New Delhi: Over a month after Air India flight AI 171, headed from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport to London’s Gatwick, crashed on June 12, killing 241 people on board, Union minister for civil aviation K. Ram Mohan Naidu on Monday (July 21) told parliament that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is “totally unbiased” and is carrying out a definitive and thorough rule-based probe. In a separate written reply, Naidu said that a total of nine show cause notices have been issued to Air India in connection with five identified safety violations in the last six months.Speaking in the Rajya Sabha during the question hour, Naidu’s statement came in response to a question by BJP MP Ashok Chavan who asked about the probe into the crash as well as the fuel switches being cut off mid-air. “To have a definitive answer we have to look at the final report. I can say this to the House and through you to the people of this country that the AAIB has a very definitive, thorough, rule-based process. They are very transparently looking into the process and they are totally unbiased and looking into the facts,” said Naidu.In response to a written question by CPI(M) MP John Brittas, Naidu said that during the last six months, “no adverse trend has been reported in reliability reports of Air India in respect of crashed aircraft.”“During the last six months, a total of nine show cause notices have been issued to Air India in connection with five identified safety violations. Enforcement action has been completed in respect of one violation,” he said.On July 12, the AAIB’s preliminary report revealed that both engines of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft shut down mid-air just seconds after take-off. In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots can also be heard asking the other why he cut off the fuel, to which the other pilot responded that he did not. Since then, speculation has since been rife about the insinuation of pilot error in the crash. Two days after the report came out, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered checks of fuel switches of various Boeing aircraft.“I have seen multiple articles not only in the Indian media but also in the western media trying to promote their own narrative, view point, their own consideration. But I have to tell you that the way we are seeing the investigation is through the facts. We want to stand by the truth- not what is happening with the pilots, or Boeing or Air India or any other stakeholder. We want to find out what exactly happened and that we can only find out once the final report is placed. So we have to respect the process of investigation,” he said.Naidu also said that for the first time the black box recordings were decoded in India.“The initial phase of the investigation has been completed, and a preliminary report has been submitted. In such incidents, if the black box – the Flight Data Recorder (FDR), which stores all the vital information – is damaged, it usually needs to be sent to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Traditionally, India used to send these devices abroad for analysis. However, for the first time, India has taken a stand to handle this domestically,” he said.In response to questions by several opposition members on over 50% vacancies in aviation bodies including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Naidu pointed to “tremendous growth” in the aviation sector in recent years and said that these vacancies have been created in the last two-odd years and are being continuously filled. The Wire had reported that a parliamentary standing committee report had in March raised concerns about the high number of vacancies across key aviation regulatory and operational bodies, particularly in the DGCA, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).Naidu pointed to “tremendous growth” in the aviation sector in recent years and said that these vacancies have been created in the last two-odd years and are being continuously filled.“The posts that we are seeing are vacant are those which have been created over the last year or 2-3 years. We have to understand that creation and recruitment is a continuous process. Last year we recruited 103, this year we plan 190 by October and UPSC has also come forward for this,” said Naidu.“This is a very specific pool of people that we are trying to pick up from. These are people who will look at safety so it is a rigorous process. We are putting pressure that these are done so that 90% of these are filled,” he added.Naidu said that 3,500 flights depart from India daily with five lakh passengers travelling safely. Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha pointed to a 2018 report by the US FAA and a 2024 report by the UK civil aviation authority that had issued advisory on fuel switches.“Now a mandatory audit has been issued for Boeing 787. You had this input in 2018 and in 2024. Why does it take a crash of this nature to do what should have been done in a routine way?” Jha asked in his supplementary question.“In a routine way all these checks are already done, then there is a directive that is issued and a special check that is done,” responded Naidu.“But in terms of all the equipment that is there, according to the protocol that is listed, checks are done. All the fuel switches, cockpit, everything is checked routinely, robustly. We wanted to be more thorough. All checking has been happening,” he said.Shiv Sena (SCP) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi in her supplementary asked why the AAIB report was released at 2AM in India, and whether aviation safety experts had been kept out of the AAIB probe team.“It is not true-there are two subject matter experts in terms of pilots who are engaged with the investigation. Engineers have been engaged as well as international civil aviation observers have been engaged. There were baseless reports that they were removed. But they are all there and pilots are also there,” Naidu replied.Answering Chaturvedi’s question on why the report was released in the middle of the night, Naidu said it was “entirely up to the AAIB”.“It was up to the AAIB to finish and release the report. I don’t think there was a specific reason why it was released at night or in the morning,” he said.