Won't be correct to reach a conclusion...: Civil Aviation MoS AI 171 crash

Business Standard

17-07-2025

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol on Thursday said it would not be appropriate to draw conclusions on the Air India AI 171 crash based on preliminary findings, noting that the report released by the Aircraft Accidents Bureau (AAIB) is only on a "primary base," and the full facts will emerge only after the final report is released.
"I think their report is on a primary base. They have also said that this is not the final report. So, it won't be correct to reach a conclusion. When the final report comes, everything will come out that what was the reason," the Civil Aviation MoS told mediapersons here.
The minister's remarks come in the wake of a Wall Street Journal report on the Air India AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad. The report cites people familiar with US officials' early assessment of evidence uncovered in the investigation into the crash, which killed 260 people.
Reuters reported earlier, citing the Wall Street Journal report, that the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month indicated that the captain turned off the switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane's engines.
"I think this is a primary report by AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau). I have said this earlier too, that soon after the incident, within 24 hours, the AAIB team and other agencies together retrieved the black box. Data was recovered from the black box which was in the custody of AAIB," Mohol added.
Notably, Veteran pilot Captain Sharath Panicker urged people to "stick to the facts," pointing out that the report does not mention pilot error as a reason anywhere for the crash.
"Nowhere does the (AAIB) report say that the Captain turned off the switches. Let's stick to the facts. The full input is available with the AAIB, and once that comes out, only then can we say anything about this," he told ANI.
The Wall Street Journal's report says that cockpit recording suggests the first officer, who was flying the Boeing aircraft, opened the new tab 787 Dreamliner, asked the other captain, who was more experienced, why he moved the switches to the "cutoff" position after it climbed off the runway.
The first officer expressed surprise and then panicked, while the captain seemed to remain calm, according to the media report.
The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had a total of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours of flying experience, respectively.
The AI 171 crash of the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, killed 260 people, including 229 passengers, 12 crew members, and 19 people on the ground. Miraculously, one passenger survived the crash.