What occurred contained in the cockpit of the doomed Air India flight AI 171 has grow to be a matter of great hypothesis globally, with numerous theories doing the rounds. Even at this early stage within the investigation, which may take months to conclude, many have insinuated pilot motion—inadvertent and even deliberate—because the possible trigger. Then there are those that seem satisfied that it couldn’t have been the pilots, and consider that one thing was improper with the plane. Amid all of the hypothesis and theories, an previous debate has relighted: ought to plane have a 3rd black field—a cockpit video recorder—along with the cockpit voice and flight information recorders?
Just lately, world airline trade physique Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation’s (IATA) Director Normal Willie Walsh stated in Singapore that there’s a “sturdy argument to be made” for having cockpit video recorders, and primarily based on what little is understood concerning the Air India crash, “it’s fairly attainable” {that a} video recording along with the cockpit voice recording would “considerably help the investigators”. Whereas investigators have been pushing for his or her set up for over 20 years, cockpit video recorders have been staunchly opposed by pilot unions over privateness and belief points.
The preliminary investigation report into the crash, launched a month after the accident, stated that the Air India Boeing 787-8 plane crashed after each its engines had been starved of gasoline as the 2 gasoline management switches transitioned from ‘RUN’ to ‘CUTOFF’ place inside a second of one another moments after lift-off. From the cockpit voice recorder information, the preliminary probe report notes that one of many pilots requested the opposite why he lower off the gasoline, to which the opposite pilot responded saying he didn’t.
To make certain, the report doesn’t point out that gasoline management switches—which permit and lower gasoline move to the airplane’s engines—moved bodily, and makes use of the time period “transitioned” to explain the change of mode from RUN to CUTOFF. It additionally doesn’t state these had been moved by both of the pilots, and doesn’t present another enter from the cockpit voice recording. The selective info offered within the report has many believing that it implicitly pointed a finger at one of many pilots.
The present debate primarily boils down to at least one query: was it pilot motion or a technical problem that introduced the plane down? Whereas the cockpit voice recording and flight information would possibly result in extra readability, it’s a no-brainer that the presence of a cockpit video recording would have definitively confirmed or dominated out human motion.
Why investigators need cameras in cockpits
Satisfied of the optimistic influence cockpit video may have on air crash investigations in instances of suspected crew error or motion, the US Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) first cited the necessity for video recording of the cockpit in 1989, and formally beneficial the set up of video recorder to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)—the American aviation regulator—in 2000. In a security suggestion to the FAA in April 2000, NTSB’s then chairman Jim Corridor made a powerful case for cockpit video recorders citing a number of plane accidents the place movies would have answered essential questions that remained unanswered.
The then most up-to-date accident talked about in that letter was that of EgyptAir Flight 990, a Boeing 767 that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 217 passengers and crew. “…the Security Board is worried that the total circumstances that led to the descent into the ocean could by no means be totally understood due to the shortage of digital cockpit imagery,” the letter famous. Certainly, the crash stays controversial to this present day with the Egyptian authorities not agreeing with the NTSB’s conclusion that deliberate motion by one of many pilots brought about the crash. A video recording may have helped resolve the disagreement by offering further readability.
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Though flight information recorders present what the plane did, they don’t all the time uncover why it did it. Cockpit voice recorders definitely seize what was stated within the cockpit and likewise document different sounds, however they don’t inform investigators how pilots bodily reacted to a state of affairs, or document their actions, which might be essential info in air crash investigations. Again in 2004, Ken Good, the then head of the UK’s Air Accident Investigation Department, had stated that cockpit video would provide important further info in virtually all plane accident probes.
Investigators have been arguing that cockpit video may expedite investigations, carry extra readability, and supply essential context to current information from the flight information recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. Over twenty years in the past, expertise and cost-related challenges may have been an argument towards set up of cockpit video recorders. In 2025, that’s no extra the case. There aren’t any technology-related challenges now in set up and operation of those units.
In actual fact, cockpit video recorders are getting used on numerous plane—like helicopters concerned in offshore operations, police choppers, search and rescue plane, and check and coaching plane—in several elements of the world. However airliners don’t have them.
Because of the presence of a cockpit video recorder, the Australian Transport Security Bureau just lately concluded that pilot negligence and error had been main components in a 2023 helicopter crash. In line with the investigation report, the pilot was “occupied with non-flying associated duties…particularly, cell phone use and the consumption of meals and drinks” when the helicopter hit turbulence. The cockpit video additionally highlighted different errors made by the pilot as he tried to take care of the disaster.
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Opposition from pilots and their unions
Regardless of air accident investigation companies pushing for cockpit video recorders in business plane, the needle hasn’t actually moved within the final 25 years. That’s as a result of influential pilot unions within the US and even different elements of the world have been strongly pushing again towards the thought. The largest purpose for opposition being privateness issues. They’ve been arguing that the cockpit voice recorder and the flight information recorder have proved to be ample in efficiently conducting a overwhelming majority of air accident investigations, and the necessity for cameras has been felt in only a few instances.
However provided that CCTV cameras are actually commonplace in places of work, why ought to the cockpit be handled in a different way as it’s, in spite of everything, the pilots’ work area? Pilots argue that the cockpit is just not a daily workplace area, however a specialised one the place high-pressure selections and safety-critical operations happen, which can embody occasional expression of frustrations and even worry. Having a digicam seize all that’s one thing that they don’t seem to be snug with. However these in favour of the cameras argue that the machine needn’t be focussed on the faces of the pilots, however moderately on the devices within the cockpit to seize them precisely, whereas additionally capturing the pilots’ operation of the devices.
“Given the excessive demand for sensational photos, IFALPA (Worldwide Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations) has completely little question that the safety of AIR (airborne picture recorders, or cameras) information, which might embody identifiable pictures of flight crewmembers, wouldn’t be ensured both. If launched, this can have an effect on security and will have a devastating impact on the households of the victims, following a deadly accident,” the worldwide federation of airline unions IFALPA had stated in a December 2021 place paper on the problem.
The larger concern is the worry of how the footage could also be used after an accident. There are issues that movies could also be leaked throughout the investigation, which may tarnish the pilots’ popularity. Such issues stem from the truth that there have been a number of cases of cockpit voice recordings being leaked to the media throughout air crash investigations, resulting in misery for the households of victims and crew. Pilots and their unions worry that the misery can be much more if cockpit movies of an ill-fated plane discover their option to the media and most people.
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There are additionally fears concerning the movies being utilized by airways and even investigators to acceptable blame, footage being utilized in authorized proceedings towards pilots, and their actions being misinterpreted or misrepresented.
“Till the misuse of recordings and transcripts has been successfully prevented, IFALPA will stay strongly against the set up of AIRs in plane. The Federation helps increasing the present expertise of the Flight Information Recorder (FDR) to supply a greater understanding of the state of the plane and believes that Security Administration is the simplest method ahead for proactive security enchancment,” IFALPA stated in its place paper.
In its letter to the FAA within the yr 2000, the NTSB had acknowledged that whereas it recognised “the privateness points with recording pictures of pilots”, it believed that “given the historical past of advanced accident investigations and lack of essential info relating to the cockpit surroundings, the protection of the flying public should take priority”. The NTSB has been arguing that if regulators make sure that cockpit footage will get the identical degree of authorized protections that cockpit voice recordings get, there shouldn’t be any purpose why they shouldn’t be necessary on airliners. The FAA has to date stated that it encourages voluntary use of cockpit video recorders, however doesn’t mandate it because it additionally recognises the related privateness and safety issues.