Aviation minister defends Air India crash probe amid allegations of bias

Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Oct 7 strongly rejected claims of manipulation or misconduct in the probe into the crash of Air India flight AI-171.

He said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is conducting the investigation in a clean, thorough, transparent, and independent manner, according to “rules we have set up.”

The controversy arose after the preliminary AAIB report into the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad which killed 260 people revealed that three seconds after takeoff, fuel control switches for both engines moved from “RUN” to “CUTOFF,” leading to fuel flow being cut off.

The report did not determine if this was intentional or accidental. There was audio from the cockpit voice recorder in which one pilot asks the other, “Why did you cut off the fuel?” and the co-pilot replies, “I did not.”

Pilot groups, especially the Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA India), raised objections. They said the preliminary report felt “hurried” and alleged that certain interpretations especially around cockpit audio were open to speculation.

They also claimed the report was “under pressure,” and that wording could mislead to suggestions of pilot error prematurely.

Minister Naidu said it was too early to draw conclusions and asked for patience until the final AAIB report comes out. He emphasized that AAIB is mandated under law to investigate aircraft accidents, that it is “totally unbiased,” and that the investigation follows international norms.

He also noted the preliminary findings “only place known facts” and do not yet establish a consensus on what exactly caused the crash.

He further criticized media narratives, especially from international outlets, cautioning against spreading premature theories. He asserted that some reports might have “vested interests.”