The Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) said on Thursday that it has formed a five-member panel to inquire into the circumstances that led to the crash of an Air India Express flight at Calicut International Airport (Karipur Airport) that killed 18 on August 7.
In a statement, the board said: “The investigator-in-charge will complete its inquiry and submit the report to AAIB within five months from the date of the issue of the order.”
Captain SS Chahar, a former designated examiner on B737NG (aircraft), will be the investigator-in-charge to inquire into the circumstances of the August 8 accident.
He will be assisted by four other investigators -- operations expert Ved Prakash, senior aircraft maintenance engineer-B737 Mukul Bhardwaj, aviation medicine expert Y S Dahiya and AAIB deputy director Jasbir Singh Larhga -- the board said.
The investigator-in-charge may take the assistance of other experts or agencies whenever required, said the AAIB.
The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were recovered the day after the crash and sent to Delhi for analysis.
Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft, too is likely to send its investigation team to examine the debris of the aircraft for defects and assist the probe.
The Air India Express flight from Dubai carrying 190 people, including a six-member crew, overshot the tabletop runway during landing at the Karipur airport in heavy rains on August 7 evening.
The narrow-body B737 plane plunged 35-feet into a valley and broke into pieces, killing 18 people, including both pilots.
This was the first major flight accident reported in Kerala. It was similar to Air India Express Flight 812 which also overran the table-top runway 10 years earlier at Mangalore International Airport killing 158 people on board.
So far, 92 passengers injured in the plane crash in Kozhikode have been discharged till date from hospitals after "obtaining complete fitness".
(With inputs from PTI)
