*

NTSB has called for cockpit cameras since 2000, but FAA

has yet

to mandate

*

Australian 2025 crash report called video footage

'invaluable'

to investigation

*

Pilot unions oppose cameras, citing privacy and potential

misuse

*

IATA head Willie Walsh says strong argument for cameras to

be

installed in cockpit

By Dan Catchpole

SEATTLE, July 15 (Reuters) - The deadly Air India crash

last month has renewed a decades-old debate in the aviation

industry over installing video cameras monitoring airline pilot

actions to complement the cockpit voice and flight data

recorders already used by accident investigators.

One of the industry's most influential voices, International Air

Transport Association head Willie Walsh, a former airline pilot,

said on Wednesday in Singapore there was a strong argument for

video cameras to be installed in airliner cockpits to monitor

pilot actions to complement voice and flight data recorders

already used by accident investigators.

Aviation experts have said a preliminary report from

India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) raised

questions over whether one of the pilots of Air India flight 171

cut off fuel to the Boeing 787's engines seconds after

takeoff, leading to an irrecoverable situation.

The crash in Ahmedabad, India, killed 241 of the 242 people

aboard, as well as 19 people on the ground.

As of now, "based on what little we know now, it's quite

possible that a video recording, in addition to the voice

recording would significantly assist the investigators in

conducting that investigation on the issue of mental health,"

Walsh said.

Advocates for cockpit video cameras say the footage could

fill in gaps left by the audio and data recorders, while

opponents say concerns about privacy and misuse outweigh what

they argue are marginal benefits for investigations.

Video footage was "invaluable" to Australian crash investigators

determining what led to Robinson R66 helicopter breaking up in

mid-air in 2023, killing the pilot, the only person aboard,

according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's final

report, which was released 18 days after the Air India crash.

The video showed "the pilot was occupied with non-flying

related tasks for much of this time, specifically, mobile phone

use and the consumption of food and beverages," the report said.

The ATSB commended Robinson Helicopters for providing

factory-installed cameras and said it encouraged other

manufacturers and owners to consider the ongoing safety benefits

of similar devices.

In 2000, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

Chairman Jim Hall urged the Federal Aviation Administration to

require commercial airliners be equipped with cockpit image

recorders.

Hall's recommendation came in the wake of 1999's Egyptair

Flight 990 crash, when the first officer intentionally crashed

the Boeing 767, according to the NTSB, killing all 217 people on

board.

"In the balance between privacy and safety, the scale tips

toward safety, unequivocally," air safety expert and former

commercial airline pilot John Nance said. "Protecting the flying

public is a sacred obligation."

Another aviation safety expert, Anthony Brickhouse, said

that as an accident investigator, he is in favor of cockpit

video, but acknowledged that commercial pilots have real

concerns.

Video on Air India flight 171 "would have answered lots of

questions," he said.

Air India declined to comment. India's AAIB, which is

expected to release a final report within a year of the crash

under international rules, did not reply to request for comment.

PILOT OBJECTIONS

U.S. pilots' unions such as the Air Line Pilots Association

(ALPA) and Allied Pilots Association (APA) say the voice and

data recorders already provide enough information to determine

the cause of a crash and that the cameras would be an invasion

of privacy and could be misused.

Calls for cockpit cameras are an understandable reaction to

"the stress of not knowing what happened immediately after an

accident," said APA spokesperson Dennis Tajer, an American

Airlines ( AAL ) pilot.

"I can understand the initial reaction of the more

information, the better," but investigators already have enough

data to adequately determine an accident's cause, leaving no

need for cameras, he said.

To make flying safer, current safety systems should be

enhanced to record higher-quality data, rather than adding video

cameras, an ALPA spokeperson said.

There are also concerns the footage could be used by

airlines for disciplinary actions or that video could be leaked

to the public after a crash, said John Cox, an aviation safety

expert, retired airline pilot and former ALPA executive air

safety chairman.

A pilot's death being broadcast on "the 6 o'clock news is

not something that the pilot's family should ever have to go

through," he said.

If confidentiality can be assured around the world, "I can

see an argument" for installing cameras, Cox said.

Cockpit voice recordings are typically kept confidential by

investigators in favor of partial or full transcripts being

released in final reports.

Despite that, International Federation of Air Line Pilots

Associations said it was skeptical that confidentiality could

ever be assured for cockpit videos.

"Given the high demand for sensational pictures, IFALPA has

absolutely no doubt that the protection of (airborne image

recorder) data, which can include identifiable images of flight

crewmembers, would not be ensured either," the organization said

in a statement.

Boeing ( BA ) declined to disclose whether customers are

able to order cockpit video recorders, while Airbus did

not reply to request for comment.