Pilots’ Body Presses AAAIB For Deep Electrical Probe In Air India AI-171 Crash Investigation

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has urged the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) to perform a thorough examination of the Boeing 787's electrical and avionics systems in the ongoing investigation into the fatal Air India Flight AI-171 crash. This plea was made in a letter sent to the AAIB's Director General on September 18, less than a month before the final investigation report is expected in October.

The pilots' association highlighted discrepancies in flight simulator timelines and questioned the correlations with the aircraft's actual behavior. They raised concerns over data derived from Boeing 787 simulator testing conducted for the families' legal representatives. The simulator results suggested that the time between fuel interruption and hydraulic power availability from the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) did not align with the initial official timeline.

The FIP emphasized that the accurate timing of these events is crucial for understanding the sequence of events leading to the AI-171 crash and for ensuring safety recommendations are based on sound technical evidence. They requested the AAIB to conduct or supervise formal simulator validation exercises to resolve these discrepancies. The association pointed to a potential electrical reverse-voltage pathway triggered by a battery short circuit as a possible cause for the dual fuel switches moving to "CUTOFF".

The FIP also requested a comprehensive review of the accident aircraft's historical maintenance logs, including technical logs, maintenance records, and deferred defects under the Minimum Equipment List. They also asked for scrutiny of the Aircraft Health Monitoring records, ACARS message chronologies, and system performance data. The FIP asked the AAIB to systematically evaluate this material and either validate or rule out its technical analysis.