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FIP president Captain CS Randhawa said the organisation has consistently maintained that the accident was linked to an electrical failure.
Wreckage of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane sits on the open ground, outside Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, where it took off and crashed nearby shortly afterwards, in Ahmedabad, India July 12, 2025. (Source: Reuters)
As the first anniversary of the Air India Boeing 787 crash approaches, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has claimed that the aircraft suffered from a “plethora of problems,” including electrical failures, and urged investigators to include independent subject matter experts before arriving at a final conclusion.
FIP president Captain CS Randhawa said the organisation has consistently maintained that the accident was linked to an electrical failure.
‘Timing Issue In Preliminary Report’
He claimed there were several gaps in the preliminary investigation report. According to him, the aircraft had arrived from Delhi with a stabiliser problem, following which the motors were replaced before it was declared fit for service.
He also alleged that the aircraft had electrical issues affecting the air conditioning system and other components, and questioned the timings mentioned in the preliminary report.
Randhawa further argued that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) evidence cited in the preliminary report covered only two seconds, adding that “Western media picked it up as a deliberate attempt.”
Randhawa claimed that the Federation has recently learned that there were ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) messages transmitted by the aircraft, but said these were not referred to in the preliminary report.
“Of late, we have learnt that there have been ACARS messages. So we found that there are a lot of messages which have been transmitted and of which no mention was made whatsoever in the preliminary report by the AAIB,” he said.
‘Need For Subject Matter Experts’
The FIP chief called for greater technical expertise and independence in the investigation process. “There is a need for subject matter experts to be on the investigation board to come to a proper conclusion,” he said, adding that Captain RS Sandhu had been inducted into the probe, but he was unaware of any other independent experts on the panel.
He also questioned the composition of the investigation board, saying two experts were deputed from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which, according to him, creates a conflict of interest. “These people who are there on the investigation board should be independent,” he said.
Technical Issues In Boeing 787 Aircraft
Randhawa further alleged that Boeing 787 aircraft have experienced multiple technical issues, including problems with the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), batteries and instances of water flooding in the electronic bay located behind the cockpit. He claimed there have also been glitches involving the 787 with other airlines.
FIP Rejects ‘Pilot Suicide Theory’
He rejected what he described as the “pilot suicide theory” that gained traction after portions of the cockpit transcript were reported by sections of the Western media.
“The report was first leaked to the Western media, which caught on to the transcript of the pilots and started believing the suicide theory. We categorically said that this issue has been due to electrical failure,” Randhawa said.
According to an early assessment by U.S. officials reported by Reuters last year, a cockpit voice recording of the exchange between the two Air India 787 pilots before the crash supported the view that the captain had cut off the flow of fuel to the aircraft’s engines.
The remarks come as investigators are expected to delay the final report into the June 12, 2025, Air India Boeing 787 crash, which killed 260 people, as analysis of the aircraft’s GE Aerospace engines remains incomplete. According to Reuters, investigators conducted engine testing in April and are continuing technical examinations before issuing a final report.
A preliminary report released last year stated that the aircraft’s engine fuel control switches moved almost simultaneously from “RUN” to “CUTOFF,” depriving both engines of fuel shortly after takeoff.
On June 12, 2025, Air India flight AI 171, flying from Ahmedabad to London, crashed seconds after takeoff. The aircraft struck student hostels at B J Medical College, killing 241 of the 242 people on board, along with 19 people on the ground.
Vishwarkumar Ramesh was the only person who survived the tragedy and walked away from the wreckage in extraordinary scenes that left the world shocked.
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Prisha is the Chief Sub-Editor at News18.com, with more than 10 years of experience in national and international news. She specialises in editorial leadership, sharp news judgment, and high-impact st…Read More
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