Priyanka Chaturvedi on Air India Plane Crash: Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Kinnajarpu Rammohan Naidu, raising a serious objection to the interim report released by the Air India Flight AI171 accident on the Air India Flight AI171 accident. He questioned how this report reached international media, especially The Wall Street Journal before being officially released in India.

It is wrong to convict dead pilot: Chaturvedi
Priyanka said, “I was not surprised at all that the report has completely convicted the pilot who has lost his life in this accident and can not present his side now.” He also alleged that a clean chit has been given to the three big companies, while she was responsible for the safety of passengers.

Demand for investigation and transparency of report leaks
Chaturvedi demanded in the letter that the report should be formally investigated by the report, the identity of the author of the report should be made public and the names and signature reports of all the members of the inquiry panel should be shown in the report. He said that the report was released “quietly” late at night, no press briefing was done nor there was transparency in conclusions.

Objection of pilot organizations also registered
He informed that pilot organizations have also objected to the investigation process. He says that there was no experienced aviator in the investigation team. Pilots’ organizations voluntarily offered to join as a technical supervisor to maintain fairness and technical accuracy.

Accused of tarnishing the image of pilot from media leaks
Priyanka Chaturvedi said that by leaking selected parts of the report, the image of the late pilot is being deliberately damaged, which is “condemnable”. He demanded from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that a clear guideline should be made for media coverage of reports of agencies like AAIB.

Need to raise voice against ‘Narrator’
Chaturvedi wrote, “AI171 cannot be made mute spectators in the crashed and its report that is being made mute spectators. It is a matter of serious concern for public safety, pilot morale and India’s global aviation image.”

What was mentioned in AAIB report
Initial report of 15 pages released by Aaib on Saturday said that the fuel control switches of both engines of the aircraft went from ‘run’ to ‘cutoff’ in a few seconds of the flight. This rapidly lost height and collided with a building, killing 260 people, including 241 passengers.

Indications from cockpit recording, not technical fault
The reports did not identify the pilots, but in the cockpit voice recording, one pilot asks the other why he cut the fuel, while the other refuses it. The report also said that no technical fault was found in the aircraft, causing the pilot error to be considered a possible reason.

Pilots Association also expressed disagreement
Airline Pilots Association of India has objected to the AAIB report. He said that the investigation has been “immersed in privacy” and is biased against the pilot. The report has been prepared in a hurry and the conclusions are prejudiced.

Air India Plane Crash Report: Air India flight AI171 left for London from Ahmedabad on the morning of 12 June 2024. The flight was being operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. Shortly after the take-off, the aircraft collided with a medical college hostel, killing 260 passengers on the spot. This accident is not only one of the largest aircraft tragedies in India, but it is also considered to be the first fatal accident of Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner all over the world.

Now the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has released a preliminary report of its 15 pages on this incident, which has revealed many important information related to the accident, but some secrets are still intact.

Both engines closed immediately after take-off!
According to the AAIB report, the fuel control switches of the two engines suddenly went from “Run” to “Cutoff”, 7 seconds after the aircraft take-off, which stopped fueling both engines. This entire process took place within a second. Due to this, the thrust of the engine went completely and the aircraft could not catch the height. It has been reported in the report that the pilots immediately tried to turn the engine again, understanding the situation.

Both switches were brought back to “run” and one of them also turned on, but by then it was too late. The aircraft crashed only 32 seconds after the take-off. In the cockpit voice recorder, a pilot was recorded asking the other, “Why did you cut fuel?”, I got the answer, “I did not.” But it was not clear which voice was from which pilot.

The aircraft was in a state of flying and pilots were also experienced
The report states that the aircraft was completely aircraft (flight). All necessary technical inspections were done before the take-off. Captain Sumit Sabharwal had a 15,000 -hour flight experience, with 8,600 hours at Boeing 787. He was accompanied by the first officer Clive Kunder in the flight, who also had 3,400 hours of experience. Both passed the pre-flight breath analyzer test and their presence in CCTV was also clearly visible.

The report also stated that FAA had issued a warning in the year 2018, in which the fuel control switch in Boeing aircraft had said that the locking mechanism was a possible failure. But this was not mandatory, only advice, so no action was taken on it.

Was it an electronic disturbance?
A big question is how the two fuel switches suddenly stopped together? Was it a pilot’s fault or any technical disturbance? Some aviation experts have feared that this may be due to malfunction in the MN4 microprocessor of the engine’s electronic control unit (ECU). A joint service bulletin released in 2021 by FAA and GE also identified the solder-ball fatigue of this microprocessor as a possible threat.

Due to this fatigue, the switches can be tripped on the cutoff automatically, which can suddenly stop, as in this accident.

Which questions are answered?
According to the report, the landing gear was not up during the take-off. It is possible that the pilot was busy dealing with the engine failure at that time and forgot to give a “gear up” call. In addition, there is no video recording of the cockpit, making it difficult to know who really changed the switch. Many experts have expressed concern over this and have demanded video recording in the future cockpit.

The report also stated that the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) did not send any distress signal, while it had an impact of 3.2 to 3.5g at the time of the accident – which is usually sufficient to trigger the signal.

Investigation team and final report
Some pilot organizations questioned the expertise of the Aaib’s investigation team. In response, Aaib clarified that the team includes pilots, engineers, aviation medicine experts and flight recording experts, who are investigating the matter deeply.

Aaib has said that the final detailed report will be released by 12 June 2026. Till then, no clear conclusions have been drawn and no new security advice has been issued for 787-8 or GE GENX-1B engine operators.