An official British inquiry into the 1978 Air India flight 855 crash has reopened old wounds, demanding that India release classified documents that could reveal the true cause of the disaster. The Boeing 747, operating as Flight 855 from Bombay to Dubai, plunged into the Arabian Sea on New Year's Day, killing all 213 on board. For decades, the official explanation has been pilot error: a vertigo-inducing instrument failure misread by the captain. But a whistleblower inside India's directorate of civil aviation has now handed over documents to British investigators suggesting the crash was caused by a faulty indicator that was known to be defective before take-off.
Sources inside the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch confirm that they have sent a formal request to the Indian government for the release of maintenance logs and internal correspondence from 1977. The documents, I am told, were hidden for years in a locked cabinet in the office of a retired senior official. The whistleblower, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said: 'They knew the indicator was giving false readings. They grounded the plane, but then they ungrounded it after a quick patch job.' The indicator in question, the flight director system, provided crucial attitude information. If faulty, it could have caused the pilot to misread the horizon and fly a steep bank into the sea.
The British inquiry, long dormant, was revived after a Channel 4 documentary last month interviewed former Air India engineers who claimed they had flagged the issue but were silenced by management. The families of British victims, many of whom live in London, have been lobbying the Foreign Office for years. Now, with the AAIB formally involved, the pressure is mounting. 'We want the truth, not a cover-up,' said Margaret Thompson, whose husband died in the crash. 'The British government must ensure that India hands over every scrap of paper.'
India's civil aviation ministry has so far refused, citing national security and the age of the case. But critics say this is a smokescreen. 'There is no national security issue with a 40-year-old maintenance log,' said aviation safety expert Simon Beck. 'This is about protecting reputations, not safety.'
The crash of Flight 855 remains India's deadliest aviation disaster involving a single aircraft. The official inquiry, led by India, concluded that the pilot 'improperly monitored' instruments, but did not test the flight director system. A separate US National Transportation Safety Board report, however, noted that the flight director may have provided false information. The British inquiry now wants to re-examine the wreckage, which was never fully recovered, and analyse cockpit voice recorder data that was partially overwritten.
For the families, the wait has been excruciating. 'We paid for a funeral without a body,' said one relative, his voice cracking. 'Now we want the truth.' The British government has until the end of the month to respond to the Indian government's latest letter. If India refuses, the AAIB may escalate to a formal diplomatic protest. The clock is ticking.
