Seattle
Reuters
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Last month’s fatal Air India crash crash has updated decades-old debate over the installation of video cameras to monitor airline pilot actions, monitoring airline pilot actions, and complementing the cockpit audio recorders already used by accidental investigators.
Willie Walsh, a former airline pilot with the International Air Transport Association, one of the industry’s most influential voices, said in Singapore on Wednesday there was a strong debate that video cameras will be installed in the Airana cockpit to monitor action actions to monitor pilot actions that complement the audio and flight data recorders already in use by accidental investigators.
Aviation experts said a preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) raised questions about whether one of the Air India Flight 171 pilots would cut off fuel to the Boeing 787’s engine seconds after takeoff, leading to an irreversible situation.
A crash in Ahmedabad, India, led to 241 of the 242 people boarding, and 19 were killed on the ground.
For now, “based on what we know now, there is a very high chance that video recordings, along with audio recordings, will greatly assist researchers in conducting research into mental health issues,” Walsh said.
Cockpit video camera supporters say the footage can fill the gap left by audio and data recorders, but their opponents say concerns about privacy and misuse outweigh what they claim to be the marginal benefit of the investigation.
According to a final report from the Australian Road Safety Bureau, video footage was “incredibly valuable” when a crash investigator on air in 2023, a Robinson R66 helicopter broke in the air in 2023, killing the only pilot, killing the pilot announced 18 days after the Air India crash.
The video states that “pilots were occupied by non-flying related tasks, particularly mobile phone use and food and beverage consumption,” the report states.
The ATSB praised the Robinson helicopter for providing factory-installed cameras, saying it encouraged other manufacturers and owners to consider the ongoing safety benefits of similar devices.
In 2000, President of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Jim Hall urged the Federal Aviation Administration to require commercial passenger aircraft to be equipped with cockpit image records.
According to the NTSB, Hall’s recommendations were that in the wake of 990 crashes in Egyptian Airlines in 1999, adjutant intentionally crashed a Boeing 767, killing all 217 people.
“In the balance between privacy and safety, tips on scale for safety are clearly heading,” said John Nance, an aviation safety expert and former commercial airline pilot. “It is a sacred duty to protect the flying masses.”
Another aviation safety expert, Anthony Brickhouse, said he supports cockpit videos as an accident investigator, but admitted that commercial pilots have real concerns.
The Air India Flight 171 video “will have answered a lot of questions,” he said.
Air India declined to comment. India’s AAIB is planning to release its final report within one year of the crash under international regulations and did not reply to requests for comment.
Unions of US pilots such as the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the Allied Pilots Association (APA) say that voice and data recorders already provide enough information to determine the cause of the crash, while cameras are a violation of privacy and can be exploited.
The cockpit camera’s appeal is an understandable response to “the stress of not knowing what happened right after the accident.”
“You can understand the initial response of more information, but it’s better,” he said.
According to ALPA SpokePerson, current safety systems need to be strengthened to record high-quality data, rather than adding video cameras to make flights safer.
There are also concerns that airlines could use airlines for disciplinary action or leak video to the public after crashes, aviation safety expert John Cox, a retired airline pilot and former ALPA executive air safety chair.
“The six o’clock news isn’t something the pilot’s family has to go through,” he said.
Cox said that if confidentiality can be guaranteed worldwide, “there will be a debate” to install cameras.
Cockpit audio recordings are usually kept confidential by investigators in favor of the release of partial or full transcripts in the final report.
Nevertheless, the Federation of International Air Line Pilot Associations said it was skeptical that it could guarantee the confidentiality of cockpit videos.
“Given the high demand for sensational photography, there is no doubt that Ifalpa is also uncertain about protecting data that can include identifiable images of flight attendants (airway image recorder),” the organization said in a statement.
Boeing refused to disclose whether customers could order a cockpit video recorder, but Airbus did not reply to requests for comment.
