AAIB’s preliminary report on AI plane crash ‘very soon’: Civil Aviation Minister

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Friday indicated that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary investigation report on the Air India Flight AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 is likely to come out very soon.

The Minister stressed that the Civil Aviation Ministry is ensuring transparency and accountability in the entire process of the investigation of the Air India plane crash.

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On being asked about the release of the report, Naidu told reporters in Mumbai that the report will come out ”very soon” and AAIB is working on it.

“It is the responsibility of the AAIB. Let them do their job,” Naidu said.

The investigation is being led by the AAIB Director General and includes experts from the Indian Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and the US-based National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is the designated investigation body from the country of the aircraft’s design. Aviation medicine and air traffic control experts are also part of the team.

The NTSB team is currently stationed in Delhi and working closely with Indian authorities at the AAIB Lab, the sources said. Representatives from Boeing and GE are also present in the national capital to assist with technical matters.

According to officials, this is the first time India is decoding black box data domestically. On June 25, the memory module was successfully accessed and its data was downloaded at the AAIB Lab, the official said.

As of now, all 260 bodies from the AI-171 crash have been identified and handed over to 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.”