Pilots’ Federation Writes to MoCA, Seeks a Judicial Probe Into Air India AI 171 Crash Investigation

Upgraded 24 September 2025 at 14:56 IST

AI 171 Crash Investigation: The Federation of Indian Pilots composed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation requiring the constitution of a Court of Inquiry into the examination of the deadly crash of Air India Flight AI 171 on June 12, 2025.

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Air India Plane Crash in Ahmedabad|Image: ANI

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AI 171 Crash Investigation: The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) on Monday composed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation requiring the constitution of a Court of Inquiry(Judicial Probe) into the examination of the deadly crash of Air India Flight AI 171 on June 12, 2025.

In an official letter dated September 22, dealt with to the Civil Aviation Minister, the FIP stated the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau(AAIB)had “fundamentally and irrevocably compromised the integrity, impartiality, and legality of the ongoing investigation.”
The FIP declared that the AAIB’s conduct has “moved beyond mere procedural irregularity into the realm of manifest bias and unlawful action. This has rendered the current investigation untenable, and its potential findings are likely to affect the morale of the pilots.”

According to the letter, on August 30, AAIB authorities checked out the house of Capt. Sabharwal’s 91-year-old dad, “under the disingenuous ‘pretext of offering condolences.’

The FIP said, “Throughout this interaction, these authorities made harmful’ insinuations ‘based upon a’ selective CVR analysis and a so-called’layered voice analysis,’ recommending that Capt. Sabharwal had actually intentionally moved the fuel control changes to the CUTOFF position post-take-off.”

The pilots’ body described the action as “procedurally incorrect and expertly indefensible,” and accused the officials of attempting to establish a “pilot mistake” narrative prematurely. The letter also charged the AAIB with “ostentatious offense” of its own rules by leaking protected cockpit voice recorder information. “Guideline 17( 5) of the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017, clearly and unquestionably restricts the general public disclosure of the audio material of cockpit voice recordings. In spite of this clear legal limitation, selective information and analyses of the CVR have actually been methodically dripped to the media,” the FIP noted.

These disclosures, it said, resulted in the “character assassination of an embellished expert” with a 30-year flying career and more than 15,000 hours of safe flying. The FIP stressed that under Rule 3 of the 2017 Rules, “The sole goal of the examination will be avoidance of mishaps and occurrences and not to assign blame or liability.’ The AAIB’s actions remain in direct breach of this required.”

It further warned that the conduct “contravenes the spirit and letter of ICAO Annexe 13, which obliges member states to perform independent and neutral examinations. A problematic domestic probe compromises India’s standing in the worldwide air travel neighborhood.”

Calling for a judicial probe, the federation wrote: “The FIP sends that the scenarios surrounding the AI 171 examination make the constitution of a Court of Inquiry not simply ‘profitable,’ however an outright and immediate requirement.”
Drawing parallels with the Air India Express Flight 812 crash in Mangalore in 2010, where the government had ordered a Court of Inquiry, the pilots said the present tragedy, with even greater loss of life, “warrants no less definitive an action.”

The federation has demanded that the Court of Inquiry be presided over by a retired Supreme Court judge and assisted by independent experts in operations, aircraft maintenance, avionics, and human factors.

“The Federation of Indian Pilots, and the whole expert pilot neighborhood it represents, has a solemn and non-negotiable responsibility to the victims of Flight AI 171, to their mourning households, and to the future security of the taking a trip public,” the letter concluded.