Waiting for closure on AI 171

Within a week or so, the preliminary report on the crash of Air India flight 171 is expected to be out, but it may or may not be conclusive.

- Nivedita Mookerji

Until there's closure on the June 12 crash of the Boeing 787—which went down seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 people on board and 34 on the ground—millions who saw the plane burst into a ball of fire in repeated television replays may struggle to get their confidence back in flying. The truth about what triggered the fatal crash of the Dreamliner should not only help bring the guilty to book, but also outline the future course of action in aviation safety. At this point, the truth is elusive.

Conspiracy theories on social media and elsewhere on what caused the crash have complicated matters in the absence of any official indication so far, despite the black box being found without much damage soon after the accident. According to reports, there were two black box units on the aircraft that crashed—one was recovered on June 13 and another on June 16. Numerous "preliminary reports" are doing the rounds, highlighting a range of reasons for one of the biggest air disasters. The blame has been fixed on everything from sabotage to faulty seat configurations, pilot error to engine malfunctioning in these reports, which are being flagged as artificial intelligence-generated fake content.