Low visibility: AAIB report on Air India crash needs technical clarity

The problem with the AAIB's 15-page report is that it has sparked damaging speculation about "pilot error" or, worse, pilot suicide

Last week’s preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on the crash of Air India Dreamliner Flight 171 to London on June 12, killing 260 people, has raised more questions than answers. The probe by the AAIB, which was set up in 2012 to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO’s) recommendations, is significant because it comes a little over three years after the Tata group acquired Air India. But the report appears to raise a raft of speculative conclusions, which will neither bring closure to the victims’ families nor offer clarity on safety protocols for the