Gaurav Taneja aka Flying Beast calls Air India crash preliminary report an ‘eyewash’, alleges omission of key details: ‘Lots of basic errors as well’

Tearing into the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report on the June 12 crash of Air India flight AI 171, commercial pilot-turned-YouTuber Gaurav Taneja, popularly known as Flying Beast, claimed that it had omitted some key details. Calling the report an “eyewash”, he alleged that the bureau was withholding the full picture from the public. Taking it a step further, Flying Beast also mocked the AAIB for allegedly misspelling a technical term in the official document.

“A very poor AI 171 report submitted by AAIB,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Mentioning that while the report outlines the positions, distances and directions of various parts of the aircraft at the time of the incident, Flying Beast pointed out that the AAIB has, however, withheld some “important information”. He questioned why the report failed to include timestamps for “pilot conversations, RAT deployment (not when it began supplying), first instance of Fuel Control Switch (FCS) transition, and what did pilots converse for 10 seconds when FCS were toggled from CUTOFF to RUN?”

He added, “AAIB has all the information, but chooses to hide it from public. Lots of basic errors as well. FADEC (full authority dual engine control) full form incorrect in official reports. This report looks like an eyewash.”

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Besides Flying Beast, several other experts also noted the absence of any recommendations for Boeing 787-8 operators in the report, arguing that this leaves many questions unanswered. According to news agency PTI, the report has suggested a catastrophic pilot error in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Air India flight 171 crashed near Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 people and leaving one survivor. (File express photo)

Flying Beast slams BBC for ‘giving Boeing a clean chit’

On Saturday, Gaurav Taneja also criticised a BBC report, claiming it unfairly placed blame on the deceased pilots, despite many unanswered questions surrounding the tragic accident that killed 260 people — 241 of the 242 people on board the aircraft and 19 on the ground. In another tweet, he wrote: “As expected, ‘blame the deceased pilots’. They can’t come back to defend themselves. Boeing has a lot of questions to answer!! BBC already gave Boeing a clean chit!”