Sena (UBT) MP Slams AAIB Over 'Secretive' Air India Crash Report, Demands Transparency

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has raised serious concerns over the handling of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report on the Air India flight AI171 crash, demanding a formal probe into how details were leaked to international media outlets before being released in India.

In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Chaturvedi asked for complete transparency about the authorship, composition, and signatures of the investigation panel. She also demanded media reporting guidelines and inclusion of experienced aviators in all future probes.

“Sensitive details of the AAIB report were available to foreign agencies and published in The Wall Street Journal before any official release in India,” Chaturvedi wrote. “This undermines the credibility of our aviation safety institutions and reflects a serious lapse in information security and protocol.”

Crash and Controversy

The AAIB’s preliminary report, released quietly on Saturday, relates to the crash of Air India’s Boeing 787-8 (Flight AI171) on its way from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, which killed 260 people, including 241 onboard. The plane crashed into a building shortly after takeoff.

The 15-page report revealed that fuel control switches for both engines were cut off within a second of each other, causing an immediate loss of altitude. In the cockpit voice recording, one pilot is heard asking why the fuel was cut off, the other denies doing so.

No mechanical fault was found, leading investigators to suggest pilot error as the likely cause, though the report did not explicitly assign blame or identify the pilots.

Reprehensible Narrative

Chaturvedi accused unnamed officials or agencies of selectively leaking the report to foreign media in a way that maligns the deceased pilots, who are unable to defend themselves. She called this narrative reprehensible and cited growing outrage from pilot associations, which have questioned the integrity and composition of the investigative team.

“There appears to be no experienced aviator involved in the investigation. Pilot unions have even offered to participate as voluntary observers to ensure fairness and technical accuracy,” she said.

She also pointed out that the report was released without a press briefing, without signed findings, and clarity on process, giving rise to “legitimate concerns” over transparency and whose interests are being protected.

Chaturvedi has demanded the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting create media guidelines to regulate how interim findings from technical investigations like AAIB’s are reported, given the impact on public confidence, airline safety, and pilot morale.