The Foundation for Aviation Safety, a US campaign group, has shared a presentation with the US Senate that lays out fresh claims regarding the tragic Ahmedabad Air India crash in June 2025, a BBC report said. One of the claims suggests that the aircraft involved in the crash – Boeing 787- had faced several technical problems earlier, including a fire while in the air. The findings are based on documents that have come into its possession.
The Financial Express has not independently verified the Foundation’s findings. We reached out to Air India, but they declined to comment since the official investigation is ongoing.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after taking off on June 12 soon killing over 260 people on-board. The official investigation into the crash is still underway.
Ahmedabad Air India Crash: Early-built Boeing 787 faced repeated technical failures, say findings
According to the BBC report, the findings suggest that the Boeing aircraft involved in the accident, registered as VT-ANB, was among the first Boeing 787 Dreamliners to be manufactured. It made its first flight in late 2013 and began operations with Air India in early 2014, the report said.
According to the Foundation for Aviation Safety, records show that the plane started facing technical problems from the very beginning of its service with Air India. The group claims these issues were linked to a mix of engineering flaws, manufacturing defects, poor quality checks, and maintenance lapses, the report added.
According to the report, citing the body’s findings, the problems covered a wide range of critical systems. These included faults in electronics and software, frequent tripping of circuit breakers, damaged wiring, short circuits, and interruptions in electrical power. The foundation also pointed to overheating in parts of the aircraft’s power systems.
The group says this pattern of failures raises serious questions about the aircraft’s reliability and whether all risks were properly addressed during its years in service.
Aircraft caught fire in power distribution panel in 2022, claims Foundation for Aviation Safety
According to the Foundation for Aviation Safety, a fire broke out in January 2022 in the aircraft’s P100 power distribution panel, the BBC report added. This panel is one of five key units that receive high-voltage electricity from the engines and supply power to different systems across the plane.
The pilots began getting fault alerts while the aircraft was descending toward Frankfurt Airport. The extent of the damage became clear only after landing. The foundation said the damage was serious enough that the entire panel had to be replaced.
The findings cited suggest that the Boeing 787 depends much more on electrical systems than older passenger planes. To improve fuel efficiency, designers removed many mechanical and air-powered parts and replaced them with lighter electrical components.
However, this approach caused problems in the early years of the aircraft. A major battery fire on a Japan Airlines 787 in 2013 forced the temporary grounding of the global fleet. Even the P100 panel had to be redesigned in 2010 after a fire occurred on a test aircraft.
The foundation has submitted its findings to the US Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which last year examined concerns over Boeing’s safety practices.
Safety group flags wider Boeing 787 risks
The Foundation for Aviation Safety is led by Ed Pierson, a former senior executive at Boeing’s Renton plant in Seattle. Over the years, he has repeatedly raised concerns about safety and quality standards at the aircraft maker.
Pierson has been sharply critical of the early findings in the Air India crash probe, saying the preliminary report fell far short of what was needed, the BBC report said.
The foundation says its worries are not limited to the aircraft involved in the Air India accident. It claims to have reviewed around 2,000 reports of technical problems linked to hundreds of Boeing 787 planes operating in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Some of these reports mention water leaking into areas where electrical wiring is housed, an issue that has also been noted by the US aviation regulator. Similar concerns have been raised by others in the aviation sector as well.
Boeing has consistently said the 787 is a safe aircraft with a solid safety record. Before the Ahmedabad crash, the plane had flown for nearly 15 years without any fatal accidents.
The BBC said it has not reviewed the documents cited by the foundation. Boeing has declined to comment while the investigation is ongoing and directed questions to India’s accident investigation body. The BBC had also reached out to Air India and the investigators.