The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has raised objections to the preliminary investigation report on the tragic Air India crash that happened in Ahmedabad on June 12. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the group said it was disappointed with the report and called it “premature and irresponsible” to assign blame without a complete and fair investigation.

They also criticised the lack of representation of pilots in the investigation team and said this had impacted the fairness of the findings.

The pilots' association strongly reacted to parts of the report that hint at possible pilot error.

"Assigning blame before a thorough, transparent, and data-driven investigation is both premature and irresponsible. Such speculative commentary undermines the professionalism of highly trained crew members and causes undue distress to their families and colleagues," the FIP said.

Their reaction comes after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) shared its initial findings on July 12, exactly a month after the crash. The report showed that both fuel control switches of the Air India AI171 flight were moved from 'RUN' to 'CUTOFF' just seconds after takeoff, causing the aircraft to crash shortly after leaving the ground.

What the report said

The AAIB report included a short exchange between the two pilots, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder. One pilot reportedly asked, “Why did you cut off?” and the other replied, “I did not do so.”

This conversation led to multiple interpretations of what may have gone wrong in the cockpit, something the FIP said was unfair.

“The report, as released, lacks comprehensive data and appears to rely selectively on paraphrased cockpit voice recordings to suggest pilot error and question the professional competence and integrity of the flight crew. This approach is neither objective nor complete,” the FIP added.

They asked the public not to jump to conclusions based on these early findings.

DGCA orders checks on fuel switches

The AAIB’s report focused on the operation of the fuel control switches, and following this, India’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), ordered inspections of the same part across Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft in India.

Air India later said that its technical team checked the switches and found “no issues” during inspection.

The crash that took 260 lives

The London-bound flight AI171 crashed within seconds of takeoff from Ahmedabad airport on June 12. The crash claimed the lives of 260 people, including 241 passengers. The initial report was made public a month later, while investigations are still ongoing.

The pilots' body now hopes that the full inquiry will involve all relevant voices, including pilots, and be based on detailed data, not early assumptions.

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