Pilot groups reject claims of human error in Air India crash

Relatives of Rajendra Patankar, a victim of the Air India plane crash, grieve during his funeral procession in Ahmedabad, India on June 19, 2025. (Ajit Solanki / AP Photo)

NEW DELHI, India -- Two major commercial pilots’ associations have rejected claims human error caused an Air India crash that killed 260 people after a preliminary investigation report found the plane’s engine fuel switches had been turned off.

The report, issued Saturday by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the June 12 disaster, but indicated that one pilot asked the other why he cut off fuel, and the second pilot responded that he had not.

No more detail about the cockpit dialogue between the pilots was revealed.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) said it was “deeply disturbed by speculative narratives... particularly the reckless and unfounded insinuation of pilot suicide.”

“There is absolutely no basis for such a claim at this stage,” it said in a statement Sunday, adding, “it is deeply insensitive to the individuals and families involved.”

“To casually suggest pilot suicide without verified evidence is a gross violation of ethical reporting and a disservice to the dignity of the profession,” it said.

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The initial probe finding sparked speculation by several independent aviation experts that deliberate or inadvertant pilot action may have caused the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to crash soon after takeoff from Ahmedabad in western India.

The ICPA was referring to a number of aviation experts suggesting engine fuel control switches can only be moved deliberately and manually.

The Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA India), another pilots’ body with 800 members, also accused the probe agency of “secrecy” surrounding the investigation, saying “suitably qualified personnel” were not involved in it.

“We feel that the investigation is being driven in a direction presuming the guilt of pilots and we strongly object to this line of thought,” ALPA India president Sam Thomas said in a statement issued on Saturday.

ALPA -- which claims 100,000 members worldwide -- also requested to the AAIB that it be included as “observers so as to provide the requisite transparency in the investigations.”

The crash killed all but one of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.