"I don't think they have the locus standi": Captain Sharath Panicker questions WSJ report on Air India crash

New Delhi [India], July 19 (ANI): Former Fighter Pilot at Indian Air Force Captain Sharath Panicker has criticised the Wall Street Journal's report on the Air India AI 171 crash, saying the publication lacks the locus standi to report on the incident without authorisation from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
Speaking to ANI on Friday, Captain Panicker highlighted that a narrative is being built using details not officially released.
"There seems to be a narrative that is being built out here, first by the reporter who reported this 2 days before, then later on picked up by the Wall Street Journal, which reported two days later, a similar-looking narrative. Now, the third instance of the Wall Street Journal again on the 17th of this month has gone into further details. I believe none of this should have been available to them," he said.
"In any case, I do not think they have the locus standi to be able to carry out such reports without the authorisation of the official Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, who have the full authority to investigate this accident," he added.
Following the Wall Street Journal report on the Air India AI171 crash, aviation expert Sanjay Lazar on Thursday expressed concern over the leak of investigation details in the United States. He pointed out that while the American report claims the flight commander may have switched off the fuel controls, India's official preliminary report only contains a short pilot denial and lacks the full cockpit voice recorder transcript.
Lazar questioned why the full cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript was not included in the preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and stated that it is worrying that a foreign media outlet appears to have more information than the Indian authorities or the public.
As per Reuters, The Wall Street Journal report cited people familiar with US officials' early assessment of evidence uncovered in the investigation into the crash, which killed 260 people.
The recording suggested that the first officer, who was flying the Boeing aircraft, opened the new tab 787 Dreamliner, asked the other captain, who was more experienced, why he moved the switches to the "cutoff" position after it climbed off the runway, the report said.
The first officer expressed surprise and then panicked, while the captain seemed to remain calm, Reuters reported, citing WSJ.
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Boeing and Air India have not yet responded to the report.
The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively.
A preliminary report released last week by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before the June 12 crash, and raised fresh questions over the position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches. (ANI)