The official report is yet to be released by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Parliamentary committees have discussed aviation safety concerns following the crash, focusing on maintenance and the sector's expansion
New Delhi: The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has dismissed reports claiming that a critical mechanical failure and a sequence of cockpit events led to the Ahmedabad Air India plane crash, which killed 260 people. Senior officials of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) had told a parliamentary panel on Wednesday that the preliminary report is likely to be placed in the public domain in the next few days.
Taking to X, PIB said that the report has not been issued by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, and urged citizens to always rely on official sources for accurate information. “A message circulating on WhatsApp claims to be the preliminary investigation report of the AI-171 crash by the AAIB. This message is fake,” it added. The fake report had said that the root cause of the tragedy was that the captain's seat suddenly slid backward during rotation, a moment when the aircraft was lifting off the runway.
“This rearward movement was due to the failure of the AFT locking mechanism of the seat track. As the captain's body was thrust rearward, his weight inadvertently pulled the thrust levers into idle, drastically reducing engine power during a critical phase of flight. The First Officer attempted to advance the throttles but was unable to counter the mechanical force and body weight obstructing the levers,” the report claimed. The false information further claimed that the wreckage inspection revealed fractured seat locking pins as the point of failure.
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Aviation safety concerns raised in Parliament panel meeting
Parliament's Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture sought clarifications on the issue of safety and aircraft maintenance. The members, sources said, talked about the vast expansion of air sector in India, the projected growth and the need to expand the maintenance facilities. Several members mentioned the aircraft crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 last month in which over 250 people were killed.
The agenda of parliamentary panel was to hear the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, on 'Overall review of safety in Civil Aviation Sector'. The meeting, which began at 11 am lasted till almost 6 pm, with senior officials of DGCA, AAI giving presentations. The panel is chaired by Janata Dal-United MP Sanjay Jha. Senior officials of Air India, Indigo, Akasa Air were among those present.
On Tuesday, Members of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raised serious concerns over aviation safety following the Air India Flight AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad and the sudden surge in flight fares from Srinagar to other cities after the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, according to sources. 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. 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.
(With inputs from ANI)
