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US representative to aid crash investigation

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Experts in the technical committee of the Airports Authority of India will examine the contents of the two vital 'black boxes', which were recovered from the charred debris of Alliance Air flight CD 7412 that crashed near Patna on Monday.

Union Civil Aviation Secretary Akbar H Jung told rediff.com that the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder would help the experts to unravel the mystery of how the aircraft nosed-dived and crashed while approaching Patna airport for landing. He declined to identify the experts.

Jung reiterated that the United States Federal Aviation Authority would be deputing a representative to aid the investigation in India. Besides, Boeing officials would also examine the results of the investigation. " This is a normal practice. The objective is to prevent similar accidents in the future," Jung explained.

However, sources in the civil aviation ministry stressed that after every plane crash, anywhere in the world, the concerned authorities made pious declarations about investigating the cause of the accident. " But the results of the investigations are unfailingly kept away from the general public. This happens all over the world, including in the US, and India is no exception," they pointed out.

Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav on Wednesday announced that his ministry would not only replace the entire Alliance Air fleet but also add another eleven A300 aircraft by 2002.

Ministry officials, however, revealed that the selection process is yet to begin.

See full coverage of the Alliance Air crash

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