The Wall Street Journal and Reuters have received a legal notice from the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), which alleged that the two media houses published misleading and allegedly defamatory reports concerning the recent Air India Flight AI-171 accident. The pilots ‘ body has insisted on official apologies to be offered by the pilots and subsequent withdrawal of the concerned stories.
The dispute is a result of the international reports of the initial report issued by the Aircraft Accidents Investigations Bureau (AAIB) of India about the fateful landing of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner on June 12. The AAlibs interim report states that about 5 minutes into the flight, both fuel control levers on the aircraft, without any known explanation, were ever so slightly flicked over to the cutoff position, thereby causing both these engines to fail. The voice recordings in a cockpit recorded one of the pilots inquiring why the fuel had been shut down, to which the other pilot responded that he did not do so.
It must be noted that the AAIB report did not single out any person to blame, nor did it indicate who would toggle the switches. Nevertheless, an article published by The Wall Street Journal, with references to unknown sources, who allegedly are people familiar with the initial evaluation of the evidence collected up to that moment by US authorities, suggested that the captain of the aircraft had switched off the fuel controls due to her intention. Reuters also adopted a similar story in the coverage.
FIP has taken a stern move against what it termed as irresponsible journalism and baseless speculation that negatively misleads the Indian aviation fraternity and its reputation among pilots. The federation of the pilots insists that by making such conclusions without clear evidence, one negatively affects not only the trustful nature of the investigation but also triggers serious emotional frustration among the relatives of the individuals under investigation.
The FIP has also come out to demand that the two outlets, in addition to issuing a public apology, should withdraw all the toxic materials published on their platforms with immediate effect.
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