US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has said the agency will continue to support the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) probe into the Air India plane crash and warned against jumping to conclusions, calling recent reports about the incident “premature and speculative.” US NTSB chief backs AAIB probe into Air India crash, calls reports “premature and speculative.” (REUTERS File)

On June 12, Air India’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft, en route from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed into a building shortly after takeoff, killing 260 people, including 19 on the ground. Out of the 242 people onboard, only one passenger survived.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released its preliminary report into the crash on July 12.

“Recent media reports on the Air India 171 crash are premature and speculative. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau just released its preliminary report. Investigations of this magnitude take time,” Homendy said in a statement posted on X.

Her remarks come just days after the AAIB also said it was too early to draw any “definite conclusions” regarding the cause of the crash and urged the public and media to refrain from promoting unverified narratives.

Homendy reiterated NTSB’s full backing for India’s investigation and said her agency will continue its assistance in the probe.

“All investigative questions should be addressed to the AAIB,” she said in the same post on Saturday.

Her comments follow reports suggesting that pilot error may have caused the crash of the Air India aircraft registered as VT-ANB operating flight AI 171.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent US government investigative agency responsible for examining accidents across all major modes of civil transportation. This includes aviation, highway, marine, pipeline, railroad, and bridge failures, as well as hazardous materials incidents during transit.