AI-171 CREW ACTED IN LINE WITH RESPONSIBILITY UNDER CHALLENGING CONDITIONS: AI PILOTS' GROUPING ICPA

Strongly rejecting insinuations in some quarters about pilot suicide, the association representing narrow-body pilots of Air India stressed that until the official investigation is concluded and the final report is published, any speculation is unacceptable and must be condemned.

- ► KALIDAS NEWDELHI

The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) on Sunday (July 13, 2025) said the crew of the AI-171 flight that crashed last month acted in line with their training and responsibilities under challenging conditions, and the pilots should not be vilified based on conjecture.

Strongly rejecting insinuations in some quarters about pilot suicide, the association representing narrow-body pilots of Air India stressed that until the official investigation is concluded and the final report is published, any speculation is unacceptable and must be condemned.

It may be noted here that the Airline Pilots' Association of India also had on Saturday (July 12, 2025) demanded a fair and fact-based probe into the Air India plane crash as it claimed that the tone and direction of the investigation into the Air India plane crash suggests a bias towards pilot error.

ICPA is the narrow-body fleet pilots' body at Tata Group-owned Air India.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has released its preliminary report into the fatal Boeing 787-8 plane crash on June 12 that killed 260 people. The report has found that the fuel supply to both engines of Air India flight AI171 was cut off within a second of each other, causing confusion in the cockpit and the airplane plummeting back to the ground almost immediately after taking off.The 15-page report says that in the cockpit voice recording, one unidentified pilot asked the other why he had cut off the fuel, which the other denied.