Analyzing the Air India flight 171 crash, Captain Prashant Dhalla, a former DGCA Flight Operations Inspector, urges a comprehensive investigation beyond a simple focus on human error. He brings up the ‘startle effect’ as a potential influence and the importance of examining the preliminary report’s findings regarding the Ram Air Turbine (RAT). Dhalla suggested that the pilots might have been trying to solve a technical problem, which led to unintended actions. He also clarified the protective features of fuel switches and called for the release of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcript to better understand the situation in the cockpit. He emphasized that pilots had very little time to respond, dealing with the crisis and communicating with ATC simultaneously. Dhalla also stated that the actions of the pilots indicated engine issues.
