Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Speed is of the essence for the Air India crash investigators

Let me tell you about my colleague Kylie's reaction to that Air India plane crash last night. 

She was in bed. She was playing on her phone as you do, and the news came in at about 9 o'clock. 

Immediately, she looked, she suspected it, looked up what kind of plane it was, exactly as she thought: a Boeing. 

Then she immediately looked up what plane her 12-year-old daughter is on to Samoa this Sunday —exactly as she expected, a Boeing— and she freaked out. 

Now fortunately for her, she's got a partner with common sense, and actually, she herself is reasonably rational, so she's not going to be pulling her daughter off that flight. But she is still feeling incredibly uncomfortable about it. 

And look, I don't blame her for that. I would bet that she's not alone in reacting like this. 

And just assuming this is a Boeing problem. Truth is, we don't actually know that this is a Boeing problem. 

Yes, it was a Boeing plane, but there is a very, very good chance that this is actually a pilot problem because it looks like the pilot may not have extended the wing flaps. 

But the trouble for Boeing is it does not have the same benefit of the doubt that a planemaker would normally have with a crash like this because of all of the problems that Boeing has already had in the last 10 years. 

Never mind the fact that the problems have been with the 737 narrow-body planes, and this is a 787, which is completely different. Never mind that.  

Boeing shares fell immediately, and they have stayed down. 

Now, I would say that speed is of the essence here for the people who are doing the investigation with getting those answers out. 

These investigators, I understand, have about 30 days under international expectations to issue the preliminary findings, but they should, all things going well, have answers out of that flight data, the flight data recorders within days, if not hours of the crash. 

And then I think the sooner that the public are told what has happened, the better for Boeing's sake. And Boeing will be hoping like hell that the answers clear the plane and unfortunately blame the pilot.

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