Minister of State Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, in response to an unstarred question by Dr John Brittas on Ahmedabad plane crash, informed Rajya Sabha on Monday that a total of nine show cause notices have been issued to Air India over five identified safety violations. He further added that enforcement action has already been completed in one of the cases of violation.
Investigation is in process
In response to the “reasons identified so far” behind the horrendous plane crash on June 12 in Ahmedabad, he said that an investigation has been ordered by the Director General of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau to determine the cause(s) or contributory factor(s) of the accident of Air India flight AI-171.
“An Investigation has been ordered by Director General, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau under Rule 11 of the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents & Incidents) Rules, 2017 to determine the probable cause(s)/contributory factor(s) leading to the accident of Air India flight Al-171 at Ahmedabad on 12.06.2025,” the reply read.
It further added, “A preliminary report on the accident has been published by AAIB on 12th July, 2025 and is available on their website aaib[dot]gov[dot]in. The investigation is in progress to determine the probable cause(s)/contributory factor(s) leading to the accident.”
Another question, which was raised by the Rajya Sabha MP, was: “Whether any adverse observations regarding safety or flightworthiness of the crashed airline had been flagged before the accident by passengers or the DGCA during the last six months.”
In response to this question, MoS Civil Aviation said that “no adverse trend has been reported”.
“During the last six months, no adverse trend has been reported in reliability reports of Air India in respect of crashed aircraft,” the reply stated.
Air India AI-171 crash
The tragic crash, which claimed the lives of all 242 but one passenger shortly after take-off from the Ahmedabad Airport, took place on June 12 when London-bound Air India flight crashed into the hostel for medical students.
One month later, India’s investigating agency – Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) – released preliminary findings into the report. The AAIB report mentioned that the fuel switches of both engines transitioned from Run to Cutoff with a gap of just one second, and the switches were recovered in Run position from the crash site.
Furthermore, the report, based on the cockpit recording, revealed that one of the pilots asked the other about why he cut off the supply, to which the other said that he did not. It also revealed that RAT – the emergency system that helps land the plane safely – was also deployed.