NEW DELHI: Following a barrage of reports in the western media that have squarely blamed AI 171 captain for switching off fuel supply to the doomed Air India Dreamliner leading to its June 12 crash, the American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has now termed those articles “premature and speculative.

” In a statement, NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said: “Recent media reports on the Air India 171 crash are premature and speculative. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) just released its preliminary report. Investigations of this magnitude take time. We fully support the AAIB’s public appeal, which was released Thursday, and will continue to support its ongoing investigation. All investigative questions should be addressed to the AAIB.

”The appeal comes after AAIB on Thursday called out “irresponsible” drawing of “conclusions through selective and unverified reporting.” The bureau had issued this statement after The WSJ in its latest report on the issue said, “…captain turned off switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane’s two engines” accidentally or deliberately.

Also read: What AAIB report confirms, what it rules out, what still remains unansweredBut almost everyday reports in the western media come out with reports that have alleged details of the crash which the Indian authorities like AAIB are yet to deny.

The preliminary report had identified that first officer Clive Kunder was the pilot flying the doomed AI 171 while Captain Sumeet Sabharwal was the pilot monitoring. The confusion partially stems from AAIB’s prelim report which did not contain any cockpit voice recorder (transcript) and a solitary indirect quote from the same.

“One of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” says the AAIB report without identifying which pilot said what. An Italian newspaper has now cited the CVR with time stamps. A translation of this latest in a series of reports coming from the west amid radio silence from authorities in India reads: “At 13:38:39, the aircraft lifts off.At 13:38:42, the engines are starved of fuel while the plane is climbing at 180 knots (333 km/h).At 13:38:44, a microphone attached to the first officer’s seat records him saying in shock:“Why did you shut off the engines?”One second later, the captain’s microphone picks up a vague:“I didn’t do it.”Kunder isn’t convinced and repeats the question for another six seconds.While Kunder is piloting the jet, the captain is supposed to be monitoring.Kunder’s hands were on the yoke and his mind focused on airspeed, heading, and pitch.Also read: FIP sends legal notice to Reuters, WSJ; slams 'speculative' AI171 crash coverageEven if he didn’t see it, he almost certainly knew the captain had moved the switches: the sound of the levers being flipped down is unmistakable, confirmed by multiple pilots.”TOI has not been able independently verify whether the contents of this Italian media report are correct or not. Pilots and aviation experts in India have blamed the AAIB report for raising more questions than it answers and they have also slammed the reports in the western media.