It has now been several weeks since the catastrophic crash of Air India Flight AI171- one of the deadliest aviation disasters in India’s recent history. Out of concern and curiosity, I visited the website of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), hoping to find updates or a timeline for the investigation.
What I found instead was a homepage dominated by banners of Yoga Day and World Environment Day, alongside multiple images of the Civil Aviation Minister inaugurating events. Apart from a single press release issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on June 26, there has been no communication from the AAIB itself. No update. No timeline. No dedicated page for what is arguably the most catastrophic aviation disaster in recent Indian memory.
This isn’t just a case of poor web design. It reflects something deeper: the fact that India’s aviation accident investigation body is not built to function, or be seen to function, as truly independent.
Contrast this with what happened in the United States after the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout in January 2024. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) didn’t just investigate. It held press briefings, published updates, and when it found evidence of procedural lapses, it publicly and unambiguously criticised both Boeing and the FAA. The NTSB pulled no punches because it doesn’t answer to either. Its job is to find the truth and share it.
That kind of institutional courage is only possible when an agency is structurally independent. In India, the AAIB operates under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. So does the DGCA, India’s aviation regulator. Until recently, so did Air India. The very ministry tasked with promoting civil aviation also oversees its regulation and its investigation when disaster strikes.
This concentration of roles is not unique to India, but it is incompatible with global standards of best practice. The AAIB was created in 2012 to address the obvious conflict of interest in having the DGCA serve as both regulator and investigator. But that was an administrative reshuffle, not a structural reform. Both agencies still report to the same authority. And that has the potential to undermine the credibility of even the most skilled investigators.
Meanwhile, the NTSB stands apart as a model of what independent investigation should look like. It is a federal agency, established by Congress and reporting directly to it. It does not promote aviation. It does not regulate it. It only investigates. And when it concludes an investigation, it publishes the report directly to the public without prior clearance from any political authority. The reports are immediate. Unfiltered. Final.
That’s how you build trust: not by waiting for political sign-off or publishing updates through ministry press releases.
The crash of AI171 was not just another incident. It involved a modern widebody aircraft, a highly experienced crew, and a devastating loss of life, including civilians on the ground. In the thirty days since, apart from a single ministry-issued press release, there has been no official communication. In the meantime, selective leaks have appeared in foreign publications, while Indian television continues to stage a daily spectacle in the newsroom.
This absence of clarity is more than a communications failure. It reflects a system not built for public accountability. The optics are damaging.
India’s aviation sector is in the middle of a historic expansion. Its airlines are placing record-breaking aircraft orders. Its international footprint is growing. It is a time when India must hold itself to global standards – not just in operations, but also in oversight.
The AAIB must be restructured as an independent, statutory authority. Or, at the very least, it must be institutionally separated from the ministry it may one day have to examine. India already uses a version of this model elsewhere. The Commission of Railway Safety, which investigates rail accidents, reports to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and not to the Ministry of Railways. The logic is simple: investigative independence requires distance from the operator. Civil aviation deserves no less.
Because in aviation safety, trust begins with the truth—unfiltered, unedited, and unafraid.
Read: NTSB Final Report on Alaska Airlines Door Plug Blowout: Blames Boeing, FAA Oversight Failures
Read: Hello, Delta? Your Wing Flap is in My Driveway
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