Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 12: The Airline Pilots’ Association of India on Saturday demanded a fair and fact-based probe into the London-bound Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad as it claimed that the tone and direction of the investigation into the tragic incident suggested a bias towards pilot error.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary report into the fatal Boeing 787-8 plane crash on June 12 that killed 274 people. The report has found that the fuel supply to both engines of Air India flight AI171 was cut off within a second of each other, causing confusion in the cockpit and the airplane plummeting back to ground almost immediately after taking off.
The 15-page report says that in the cockpit voice recording, one unidentified pilot asked the other why he had cut off the fuel, which the other denied. “The tone and direction of the investigation suggest a bias towards pilot error… ALPA India categorically rejects this presumption and insists on a fair, fact-based inquiry,” Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA) said in a statement.
The association has also demanded that its representatives should be invited as observers in the investigation process to ensure transparency and accountability. ALPA India, is a member associate of the International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Association (IFALPA).
The Black box data from crashed aircraft was retrieved with the help of a kit from the U.S. government’s transport crash probe body that was flown into India 11 days after the crash. There have been several questions raised as to why there was a delay in downloading data from the two black boxes, or Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFRs). In a press statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation earlier said the two black boxes were brought to Delhi on June 24, though one unit was recovered from the accident site on June 13, a day after the accident.
The AAIB probing the crash also has a “state-of-the-art” black box lab, which was inaugurated in April 2025 after an investment of ₹9 crore. The lab can retrieve data, and conduct thorough analyses of accidents and incidents but it is not clear whether it was equipped to recover data after a crash like the one seen last month, which resulted in some damage to the black boxes too.
While the black box in the rear section was discovered first on June 13 from the rooftop of the dining mess building of the B.J. Medical College, it was found to be “substantially damaged.” The report states that the data could not be downloaded through conventional means. It adds that the Cockpit Area Microphone (CAM) that captures voice data was opened to inspect the memory card but “the damage was extensive.”
The EAFR in the front section was covered in soot, but was still intact. It was recovered near one of the four columns of hostel buildings that is located farthest from the dining mess building. The downloaded flight data related to approximately 49 hours of information and six flights, including the ill-fated flight. The recovered audio was two hours in length and captured the event.
“The initial analysis of the recorded audio and flight data has been done,” the report said. The report states that in previous cases too, data from damaged flight recorders were downloaded by the AAIB after sourcing “Golden Chassis” and relevant download cables from the DGCA and other accident investigation authorities. During the last air crash in the country in Kozhikode in August, 2020, involving an Air India Express aircraft, the black boxes were sent to the U.S. for downloading the data as there was damage to the memory card.
