On June 12 last year, Air India Flight 171, carrying 230 passengers and crew, crashed within seconds of takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport in Ahmedabad, killing all but one on board and 19 people on the ground. The investigation into the crash is being led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), with input from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other international bodies. The investigation has sparked controversy over potential bias and corporate influence, particularly for Boeing, which built the plane, as it tries to maintain its safety record amidst years of scandals. The final conclusions have yet to be published, but tensions are already high between national authorities and critics who argue that investigations are vulnerable to external pressures.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
It was a hot and dry afternoon on 12 June last year, when Air India Flight 171 left the terminal at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport in Ahmedabad in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
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Flight → leave → Gujarat
Settling into their seats for the nine-and-a-half-hour journey to London were 230 passengers - including 169 Indian nationals and 53 Britons.
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passengers → settle → nationals
Looking after them were 10 cabin crew.
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crew → look → them
Just 32 seconds after take-off the plane crashed, killing all but one of those on board.
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plane → crash → board
Another 19 people on the ground were also killed.
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people → kill → ground
CCTV footage from the airport and a social media video show the aircraft taking-off in what looks like a normal fashion, but rather than gain height it appears to hang in the air, before gliding gently downwards.
It disappears from view behind buildings and trees.
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It → show → buildings
Seconds later a huge cloud of flame and black smoke appears, and the magnitude of the disaster becomes apparent.
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magnitude → appear → disaster
What is not at all clear from the footage, however, is what actually caused the crash.
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what → cause → crash
Finding out why so many people died is the job of India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), part of the country's Ministry of Civil Aviation.
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people → find → Aviation
Under international law, as set out in Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the country in which an accident occurs is directly responsible for the official investigation.
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accident → set → investigation
Other parties, including the country where the aircraft or its engines were built, can also take an active part as "accredited representatives".
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aircraft → include → representatives
In the case of AI171, that means the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
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that → mean → Board
The NTSB sent a delegation which included technical experts from Boeing, which made the plane itself and GE Aerospace, which built the engines, as well as the US aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.
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which → send → engines
According to Annex 13, "the sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents or incidents.
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objective → accord → accidents
It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability".
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It → apportion → blame
For Boeing, a company already reeling from years of safety scandals, it is about the integrity of one of its premium products: the 787 Dreamliner, an aircraft with a hitherto impeccable safety record.
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it → reel → record
Air India, a loss-making airline belonging to the Tata Group, can ill-afford to see its brand tarnished.
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brand → make → Group
Families of those who died, meanwhile, want to know what really happened to their loved ones.
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what → die → ones
The final conclusions of the investigation have yet to be published, although more could become apparent in the coming days.
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more → have → days
But it has already generated intense controversy, which has exposed deeper questions about the way inquiries into major air incidents are carried out.
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inquiries → generate → incidents
So can national authorities be trusted to conduct investigations that critics say are vulnerable to perceptions of political pressure and corporate influence?
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critics → trust → pressure
In theory, the inquiry should be impartial and informative – a learning process focused solely on improving passenger safety.
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inquiry → focus → safety
But in the case of AI171, the information revealed by the investigation so far has triggered a major backlash from safety campaigners, pilots' groups and lawyers acting for the bereaved relatives.
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information → reveal → relatives
A key factor in this has been the preliminary report issued by the AAIB a month after the accident.
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factor → issue → accident
The 15-page document did not draw any conclusions about the causes of the crash, or make any recommendations.
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document → draw → recommendations
Nonetheless, just two short paragraphs generated a great deal of controversy.
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paragraphs → generate → controversy
First, it was noted that according to the aircraft's flight data recorder, the two fuel cutoff switches - normally used when starting the engines before a flight and shutting them down afterwards – transitioned from the run to the cutoff position seconds after take-off.
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switches → note → off
This would have deprived the engines of fuel, causing them to lose thrust rapidly.
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them → deprive → thrust
The report then says: "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff.
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he → say → other
The other pilot responded that he did not do so."
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he → respond → ?
This brief statement, provided without a transcript or any indication of who was speaking, sparked intense speculation about the actions of the pilots.
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who → provide → pilots
Newsweek, for example, focused on the "troubling possibility: that a seasoned captain may have deliberately doomed his jet – and nearly 250 lives".
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captain → focus → jet
Former NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt told CBS News the report showed "this was not a problem with the airplane or the engines.
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this → tell → airplane
Instead…somebody in the cockpit shut the fuel off to those engines."
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somebody → shut → engines
A few days later, The Wall Street Journal weighed in.
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Journal → weigh → ?
Citing people familiar with the matter, it claimed that recordings of dialogue between the pilots suggested it was the Captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, who had flipped the fuel switches.
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who → cite → switches
It is important to note that this was merely a preliminary report, and within days, the AAIB issued a statement condemning "selective and unverified reporting" in the international press as "irresponsible".
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AAIB → note → press
It urged the public and the media to "refrain from spreading premature narratives that risk undermining the integrity of the investigative process."
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that → urge → process
By then, arguably, the damage had already been done.
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damage → do → ?
"When a pilot is alive he can defend himself" says Capt. CS Randhawa, president of the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP).
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Randhawa → defend → Pilots
…and 84 more, not listed.
