Parliament's Public Accounts Committee to discuss Air India AL-171 crash tomorrow; civil aviation officials called
Sources confirmed that the Civil Aviation Secretary and representatives from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have been called in. However, the primary focus during the meeting will be on how passenger and other fees, airline charges, and tariffs are decided and regulated for public infrastructure and services at airports, as well as on safety concerns in aviation.
On June 12 this year, a London-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The aircraft slammed into a hostel complex of BJ Medical College, killing 241 of the 242 people on board, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
Since the incident, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has taken steps to assist the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) in conducting a full-scale inquiry. The AAIB, now equipped with advanced technology, is leading the investigation from its lab in New Delhi.
According to the Ministry, the Crash Protection Module from one of the aircraft's black boxes was recovered and accessed by June 25, and data has since been downloaded successfully. A source told ANI, An identical black box, referred to as a 'golden chassis', was used to confirm whether the data could be accurately retrieved from the black boxes.
The investigation team includes experts from the Indian Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and the US-based National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Officials from Boeing and GE, along with aviation medicine and Air Traffic Control experts, are also involved. The investigation is being conducted under international protocols outlined in the ICAO Annex 13 and India's Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017.
Meanwhile, the bodies of all 260 victims of the Air India Flight AI-171 crash have been identified and handed over to their families, Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Rakesh Joshi confirmed. 'A total of 254 DNA matches were done, all identified and handed over. six were identified through facial recognition,' he told ANI, adding, '241 were passengers and 19 were non-passengers.'
Meanwhile, officials said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has successfully retrieved and downloaded data from the black boxes. 'On June 25, 2025, the memory module was successfully accessed and its data downloaded at the AAIB Lab,' sources said. The probe, headed by the AAIB Director General, includes members from the Indian Air Force, HAL, NTSB (USA), and others. For the first time, India is decoding black box data domestically, marking a 'major milestone in India's aviation safety journey,' according to officials. (ANI)
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