Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Information from that deadly Air India crash last month is
shifting the focus to the senior pilot. The flight took
off on June twelfth, but just seconds later it suddenly
pitched down and crashed, killing more than two hundred and
fifty people. Now black box information reportedly shows it was
the captain who turned off switches that control the flow
(00:24):
of fuel, essentially shutting down the engines. According to that report,
the copilot was surprised at the move and then panicked
as it became clear the plane was going down. It's
also still not clear what exactly caused the initial power
loss that prompted the engines to fail and stall. The
investigating Bureau isn't expected to release the final report until
(00:45):
next summer at the earliest.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
A mass sick leave by the Air India crew post
the crash. In fact, one hundred and twelve pilots they
have taken sick leaves since that crash, and this is
what the Aviation Minister in fact informed the Parliament today
that there is a spike in pilot sick leaves after
the crash.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Just four days after Flight one seven one crashed in Ahmeda,
bud fifty one commanders and sixty one first officers called
in sick. That's one hundred and twelve pilots in total.
And I have to say, for all those saying don't think,
don't speculate, the pilots themselves absolutely do need to think
(01:26):
about their mental health. The pilots themselves absolutely do need
to take a break if they need to. Let's face it,
part of a commercial pilot's job is to rest, is
to sleep, is to arrive back at the job fresh
and ready for the next shift.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Fast much.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Hello and welcome to through Prime Rocket Science. According to
the Times of India, in light of the tragedy, the
Directorate General of Civil Aviation has reiterated its twenty twenty
three circular advising airlines to implement customized mental health training
for crew and to ensure access to peer support programs
(02:21):
confidential non punitive systems designed to help flight crew cope
with stress, anxiety and trauma. In this analysis, I want
to talk briefly about three aspects we still need to
talk about. Firstly, why airplane crash investigations need to be
urgent as well as why they are so time critical. Second,
(02:44):
my thoughts on why one hundred and twelve Air India
pilots took leave, all in the same day. And then
I also want to address a third aspect, Turkish Airline
flight one nine five to one, which reveals yet another
perspective on these air crash investmenttigations. But before we get
to that, if you haven't subscribed to the channel, please do.
(03:04):
If you're finding this analysis worthwhile, you can hit the
thanks button and let's get started. So three aspects we
still need to talk about. Number one, why airplane crash
investigations need to be urgent and why they are so critical.
The amazing thing about air travel and flight safety is
that every time there's an incident, it is dealt with, investigated,
(03:27):
but then the rest of the industry is essentially brought
up to speed, which makes the entire industry safer. It's
the same as with Tesla cars. At the end of
a particular day, as far as I know, all of
the deities uploaded to the mother's ship and improvements are
made across all the vehicles. Of course, that is assuming
(03:48):
the instance are reported honestly and with transparency. I think
it's clear from this case, from what we saw with
Egypt Air and from what we've seen with Boeing over
the past three years and with seven other incidents, real
transparency isn't always there, and you can imagine in a
case like this you really want transparency so that you
(04:08):
can have proper lessons being learned. Personally, I don't think
the right response to these incidents is to sue newspapers
or to criticize the media, or to argue about speculation, etc.
I think the focus ought to be on finding out
asap what really happened, so that everyone is safe as
as safe as possible, as soon as possible, and if
(04:31):
there is a lesson that needs to be learned, that
it is learned. Do you agree the real risk is
that the reality of a crash, whatever it is, is hidden,
is not talked about, or it's distorted. Because if that's
the case, then history is geared to repeat itself. This
is why we need to know why, and we need
(04:51):
to know sooner than later. Remember, when an aircraft breaks down,
it doesn't just pull over to the side of the road.
It's in the air. This is also why if a
pilot breaks down, it's not quite as simple or as
easy as pulling over. Either he's in the air and
he can't just get out of there.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Flight duty time limitations or the number of hours that
pilots and other crew members can work, you know, those
guidelines have actually been violated. There have been several concerns
in recent times which have been raised by the regulator
about FDTL as its known flight duty time limitations and
whether Er India was following those guidelines or not.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Number two, why one hundred and twelve A India pilots
took leave all on the same day, Any thoughts about that?
I think it's fantastic that this happened, the taking of leave,
I mean, and also I think actions speak louder than words.
That response one hundred and twelve A India pilots taking
leave tells you all you need to know that effectively
(05:54):
has been the response to this incident, not some bulletin
about a glitch. And I hope that is quite clear now.
And have a look at this article from The Hindu,
The Dark Side of Flying Fear of grounding deters pilots
the Air India crash after matth reveal's mental health challenges
faced by pilots, prompting industry wide changes and support initiatives. Well,
(06:18):
whether a India told its pilots to take a break,
or whether all of these pilots demanded to take one.
I think it's pretty clear Air India know what's going on.
You've just heard. I think the group executives saying basically
that the pilots have been working too hard and that
there is room for improvement in this area. I'm flying,
(06:43):
I'm pilot, so I think we need to remember that
pilots are human beings. And I also think we need
to remember that Air India do know the truth about
Flight one seventy one. The important thing isn't to make
things more stressful for the pilots, but less so, which
is why the conversation on pilot mental health is I
think overdue. It shouldn't be taboo and people shouldn't be
(07:06):
defensive about it, and also shouldn't be about blaming, but
simply figuring out what the truth is. We can also
discuss this issue, I think, sensitively, without it becoming a
witch hunt or without people becoming defensive about it. I
do think a medical checkup, specifically to check stress levels
may be part of the answer here. Perhaps these need
(07:27):
to be more frequent in the summer months as well.
Stress levels can be checked through various methods, including physiological
measurements like heart rate variability and cortsol levels, as well
as self report questionnaires like the Perceived Stress Scale the PSS.
I'm not sure if it would be as effective in
the pilot industry. Fitness trackers and smart watches could also
(07:51):
be one way to go. What are other ways to
measure stress well? Hormonal testing is one. When people are stressed,
adrenaline is released, but it also releases stress ormones into
the body, and some of this is discharged in urine,
so urine tests could be the way to go as well.
And so again this isn't about blaming pilots, but about
(08:15):
making flying safer, and we start by getting real as
soon as possible with what's not working. And just as
when there are technical issues identified that need to be
broadcast industry wide, issues with mental health, stress and fatigue
do too. Essentially, in the middle of the peak summer season,
when air travel reaches a kind of peak rush hour level,
(08:38):
we need to be particularly vigilant in terms of mental health.
Does that make Senseation.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Which is the regulator if there is a problem or
if there is a feeling on their part and they
have in fact been doing that disclosing issues. And as
I understand it, the DGCS show cause notices which have
been issued now are related to what Erindia has provided
them in terms of information where flight duty time limitations
(09:13):
or the number of hours that pilots and other crew
members can work, you know, those guidelines have actually been violated.
There have been as several concerns in recent times which
have been raised by the regulator about FDTL as its
known flight duty time limitations and.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Number three Turkish Airline flight one nine five to one.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
In the final moments of the flight, the landing turns
into a catastrophe.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
The plane falls like a rock.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
The crash of Turkish Airlines flight nineteen fifty one involves
the most popular plane on earth, with nearly one and
a half million passengers boarding seven thirty sevens every day.
Investigators need to figure.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Out if the problem was with the plane or with
the pilots flying.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
In Do you mind if I give you some homework.
I want you to watch this excellent interesting dog documentary
on Turkish Airlines flight one nine five to one. Once again,
I want you to think about the Air Indi investigation
and the notion of mechanical error versus pilot error within
the narrative of that very mysterious crash that occurred near
(10:17):
Amsterdam's Shippel Airport on February twenty fifth, two thousand and nine.
By the way, I've actually been to that airport myself.
I don't want to spoil the results of the investigation,
but what flight one nine five to one shows is
not only why it's important to get to the bottom
of these incidents, but also how intricate deciphering the mechanism
(10:38):
of the craft can be to the intricacies of the
human mind and yes, human psychology. I also want you
to keep this thought, this question in the back of
your mind while watching this How much was stress a
factor in this airplane crash? I want to conclude by
making a simple observation about flight one nine five to
(11:02):
one according to Wikipedia. An investigation by The New York
Times Chris Hamby published in January twenty twenty in the
aftermath of the Boeing seven three seven Max groundings, claimed
that the ds be either excluded or played down criticisms
of the manufacturer in its twenty ten report. After pushback
from a team of Americans that included Boeing and federal
(11:25):
safety officials, who said that certain pilot errors had not
been properly emphasized. Then, in February twenty twenties reported that
Boeing had refused to cooperate with a new Dutch review
on the crash investigation, and that the NTSB had also
refused a request from Dutch lawmakers to participate. And what
(11:46):
this shows is that the threat to transparency when it
comes to investigating these disasters is real. I'm not going
to take it further than that. Thank you for listening,
and I'll see you guys next time.
Information from that deadly Air India crash last month is
shifting the focus to the senior pilot. The flight took
off on June twelfth, but just seconds later it suddenly
pitched down and crashed, killing more than two hundred and
fifty people. Now black box information reportedly shows it was
the captain who turned off switches that control the flow
(00:24):
of fuel, essentially shutting down the engines. According to that report,
the copilot was surprised at the move and then panicked
as it became clear the plane was going down. It's
also still not clear what exactly caused the initial power
loss that prompted the engines to fail and stall. The
investigating Bureau isn't expected to release the final report until
(00:45):
next summer at the earliest.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
A mass sick leave by the Air India crew post
the crash. In fact, one hundred and twelve pilots they
have taken sick leaves since that crash, and this is
what the Aviation Minister in fact informed the Parliament today
that there is a spike in pilot sick leaves after
the crash.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Just four days after Flight one seven one crashed in Ahmeda,
bud fifty one commanders and sixty one first officers called
in sick. That's one hundred and twelve pilots in total.
And I have to say, for all those saying don't think,
don't speculate, the pilots themselves absolutely do need to think
(01:26):
about their mental health. The pilots themselves absolutely do need
to take a break if they need to. Let's face it,
part of a commercial pilot's job is to rest, is
to sleep, is to arrive back at the job fresh
and ready for the next shift.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Fast much.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Hello and welcome to through Prime Rocket Science. According to
the Times of India, in light of the tragedy, the
Directorate General of Civil Aviation has reiterated its twenty twenty
three circular advising airlines to implement customized mental health training
for crew and to ensure access to peer support programs
(02:21):
confidential non punitive systems designed to help flight crew cope
with stress, anxiety and trauma. In this analysis, I want
to talk briefly about three aspects we still need to
talk about. Firstly, why airplane crash investigations need to be
urgent as well as why they are so time critical. Second,
(02:44):
my thoughts on why one hundred and twelve Air India
pilots took leave, all in the same day. And then
I also want to address a third aspect, Turkish Airline
flight one nine five to one, which reveals yet another
perspective on these air crash investmenttigations. But before we get
to that, if you haven't subscribed to the channel, please do.
(03:04):
If you're finding this analysis worthwhile, you can hit the
thanks button and let's get started. So three aspects we
still need to talk about. Number one, why airplane crash
investigations need to be urgent and why they are so critical.
The amazing thing about air travel and flight safety is
that every time there's an incident, it is dealt with, investigated,
(03:27):
but then the rest of the industry is essentially brought
up to speed, which makes the entire industry safer. It's
the same as with Tesla cars. At the end of
a particular day, as far as I know, all of
the deities uploaded to the mother's ship and improvements are
made across all the vehicles. Of course, that is assuming
(03:48):
the instance are reported honestly and with transparency. I think
it's clear from this case, from what we saw with
Egypt Air and from what we've seen with Boeing over
the past three years and with seven other incidents, real
transparency isn't always there, and you can imagine in a
case like this you really want transparency so that you
(04:08):
can have proper lessons being learned. Personally, I don't think
the right response to these incidents is to sue newspapers
or to criticize the media, or to argue about speculation, etc.
I think the focus ought to be on finding out
asap what really happened, so that everyone is safe as
as safe as possible, as soon as possible, and if
(04:31):
there is a lesson that needs to be learned, that
it is learned. Do you agree the real risk is
that the reality of a crash, whatever it is, is hidden,
is not talked about, or it's distorted. Because if that's
the case, then history is geared to repeat itself. This
is why we need to know why, and we need
(04:51):
to know sooner than later. Remember, when an aircraft breaks down,
it doesn't just pull over to the side of the road.
It's in the air. This is also why if a
pilot breaks down, it's not quite as simple or as
easy as pulling over. Either he's in the air and
he can't just get out of there.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Flight duty time limitations or the number of hours that
pilots and other crew members can work, you know, those
guidelines have actually been violated. There have been several concerns
in recent times which have been raised by the regulator
about FDTL as its known flight duty time limitations and
whether Er India was following those guidelines or not.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Number two, why one hundred and twelve A India pilots
took leave all on the same day, Any thoughts about that?
I think it's fantastic that this happened, the taking of leave,
I mean, and also I think actions speak louder than words.
That response one hundred and twelve A India pilots taking
leave tells you all you need to know that effectively
(05:54):
has been the response to this incident, not some bulletin
about a glitch. And I hope that is quite clear now.
And have a look at this article from The Hindu,
The Dark Side of Flying Fear of grounding deters pilots
the Air India crash after matth reveal's mental health challenges
faced by pilots, prompting industry wide changes and support initiatives. Well,
(06:18):
whether a India told its pilots to take a break,
or whether all of these pilots demanded to take one.
I think it's pretty clear Air India know what's going on.
You've just heard. I think the group executives saying basically
that the pilots have been working too hard and that
there is room for improvement in this area. I'm flying,
(06:43):
I'm pilot, so I think we need to remember that
pilots are human beings. And I also think we need
to remember that Air India do know the truth about
Flight one seventy one. The important thing isn't to make
things more stressful for the pilots, but less so, which
is why the conversation on pilot mental health is I
think overdue. It shouldn't be taboo and people shouldn't be
(07:06):
defensive about it, and also shouldn't be about blaming, but
simply figuring out what the truth is. We can also
discuss this issue, I think, sensitively, without it becoming a
witch hunt or without people becoming defensive about it. I
do think a medical checkup, specifically to check stress levels
may be part of the answer here. Perhaps these need
(07:27):
to be more frequent in the summer months as well.
Stress levels can be checked through various methods, including physiological
measurements like heart rate variability and cortsol levels, as well
as self report questionnaires like the Perceived Stress Scale the PSS.
I'm not sure if it would be as effective in
the pilot industry. Fitness trackers and smart watches could also
(07:51):
be one way to go. What are other ways to
measure stress well? Hormonal testing is one. When people are stressed,
adrenaline is released, but it also releases stress ormones into
the body, and some of this is discharged in urine,
so urine tests could be the way to go as well.
And so again this isn't about blaming pilots, but about
(08:15):
making flying safer, and we start by getting real as
soon as possible with what's not working. And just as
when there are technical issues identified that need to be
broadcast industry wide, issues with mental health, stress and fatigue
do too. Essentially, in the middle of the peak summer season,
when air travel reaches a kind of peak rush hour level,
(08:38):
we need to be particularly vigilant in terms of mental health.
Does that make Senseation.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Which is the regulator if there is a problem or
if there is a feeling on their part and they
have in fact been doing that disclosing issues. And as
I understand it, the DGCS show cause notices which have
been issued now are related to what Erindia has provided
them in terms of information where flight duty time limitations
(09:13):
or the number of hours that pilots and other crew
members can work, you know, those guidelines have actually been violated.
There have been as several concerns in recent times which
have been raised by the regulator about FDTL as its
known flight duty time limitations and.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Number three Turkish Airline flight one nine five to one.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
In the final moments of the flight, the landing turns
into a catastrophe.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
The plane falls like a rock.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
The crash of Turkish Airlines flight nineteen fifty one involves
the most popular plane on earth, with nearly one and
a half million passengers boarding seven thirty sevens every day.
Investigators need to figure.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Out if the problem was with the plane or with
the pilots flying.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
In Do you mind if I give you some homework.
I want you to watch this excellent interesting dog documentary
on Turkish Airlines flight one nine five to one. Once again,
I want you to think about the Air Indi investigation
and the notion of mechanical error versus pilot error within
the narrative of that very mysterious crash that occurred near
(10:17):
Amsterdam's Shippel Airport on February twenty fifth, two thousand and nine.
By the way, I've actually been to that airport myself.
I don't want to spoil the results of the investigation,
but what flight one nine five to one shows is
not only why it's important to get to the bottom
of these incidents, but also how intricate deciphering the mechanism
(10:38):
of the craft can be to the intricacies of the
human mind and yes, human psychology. I also want you
to keep this thought, this question in the back of
your mind while watching this How much was stress a
factor in this airplane crash? I want to conclude by
making a simple observation about flight one nine five to
(11:02):
one according to Wikipedia. An investigation by The New York
Times Chris Hamby published in January twenty twenty in the
aftermath of the Boeing seven three seven Max groundings, claimed
that the ds be either excluded or played down criticisms
of the manufacturer in its twenty ten report. After pushback
from a team of Americans that included Boeing and federal
(11:25):
safety officials, who said that certain pilot errors had not
been properly emphasized. Then, in February twenty twenties reported that
Boeing had refused to cooperate with a new Dutch review
on the crash investigation, and that the NTSB had also
refused a request from Dutch lawmakers to participate. And what
(11:46):
this shows is that the threat to transparency when it
comes to investigating these disasters is real. I'm not going
to take it further than that. Thank you for listening,
and I'll see you guys next time.
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