Aviation specialists slam Air India crash report, allege pilot scapegoating

File image: Wreckage from the Air India aircraft that crashed moments after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, on a constructing within the metropolis, on June 12.
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Aviation specialists in addition to pilots have forged “severe doubts” on the preliminary findings of the Air India Flight 171 crash investigation, particularly surrounding the function of pilots in allegedly inflicting the mishap.

Talking to businessline, the Indian aviation business stakeholders have warned in opposition to untimely assumptions insinuating procedural lapses within the cockpit.

Consultants have cited the potential for crucial mechanical failures within the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The preliminary report launched within the early hours of Saturday IST revealed that each engines shut down seconds after take-off.

The report ready by the Plane Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said that simply three seconds after reaching its peak velocity of 180 knots, each gasoline management switches have been discovered to have transitioned from ‘run’ to ‘cutoff’ mode, inflicting each engines to close down mid-air.

Nevertheless, the report didn’t cite the reason for this prevalence. The crew tried to restart the engines, transferring each gasoline cutoff switches again to “run” positions.

This transfer allowed ‘engine 1’ to start the restoration course of; nonetheless, ‘engine 2,’ whereas relighting, couldn’t arrest its core velocity deceleration. The plane failed to achieve altitude and crashed into the BJ Medical School hostel compound, lower than a nautical mile from the runway.

The report issued no instant security suggestions, noting the plane was airworthy, licensed, and had no main defects.

Veteran aviator Captain Shakti Lumba stated the AAIB could have misinterpret crucial flight knowledge. Lumba famous that the plane’s flight knowledge recorder solely displays gasoline valve place and never the cockpit swap place, suggesting that the report could have wrongly inferred cockpit actions.

In addition to, Lumba challenged the report’s ‘clear chit’ to Boeing and GE, and said {that a} extra thorough investigation must be carried out, ideally by a ‘Judicial Court docket of Inquiry.’

Martin Consulting CEO, Mark D Martin, known as the notion of a pilot manually reducing off gasoline to each engines throughout take-off “unthinkable” and emphasised the absence of any point out of cockpit digicam footage that would validate crew behaviour.

He stated the AI 171 preliminary report could have a ‘world ramification’ on all 787 operators. Moreover, he asserted that the 787 Dreamliner is a comprehensively digitally managed and software-driven plane that consistently wants patches and system updates.

Pilots’ physique reacts

In the meantime, the Airline Pilots’ Affiliation of India (ALPA-India) has identified opacity within the investigation and sidelining of certified flight crew from the probe.

It has raised alarm over the serviceability bulletin referenced within the preliminary report, which highlighted a possible malfunction associated to the plane’s gasoline management swap gates.

The affiliation additionally warned that with out solutions to a number of of its elementary questions, the integrity of the investigation in addition to the protection of ongoing operations remained doubtful.

Different business stakeholders stated the investigation wanted to synchronise knowledge from the cockpit voice recorder and the flight knowledge recorder with the precise timing.

The preliminary report has not launched your entire cockpit voice recorder transcript. Pilots say it’s not doable that solely two sentences have been uttered after which the ‘Could Day’ message relayed.

“If there’s a lack of thrust in plane throughout take-off, the pilot who’s monitoring the parameters would name out that and the identical would get recorded,” a senior captain stated.

As of now, the investigation is ongoing and is predicted to yield a closing report inside 12 months.

Revealed on July 12, 2025