Exposed Again: How the Air India 171 Crash Reignited Boeing’s Hidden History

🛑 Boeing’s silence won’t save them this time.

The Air India 171 tragedy just cracked open a story much bigger than a single flight.

Hidden inside the wreckage — and the supply chain — is a part built by Boeing. A part linked to previous cover-ups.

✈️ What else have they been hiding?
⚠️ What this crash just revealed could trigger a reckoning.

When Air India Flight AI-171 plunged into a hostel complex in Ahmedabad on 12 June 2025, killing 241 onboard and at least 19 on the ground, it marked the third mass-fatality crash involving a Boeing jet in seven years.
A study of past events involving Boeing shows that this was not merely another aviation disaster. It came against the backdrop of what multiple US regulatory and judicial findings have described as a systemic failure—rooted in years of corporate obfuscation, regulatory leniency, and failed accountability.
The Ahmedabad crash came just weeks after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it had reached an agreement in principle with Boeing on the terms of a new non-prosecution agreement (NPA).

The NPA stems from Boeing’s prior conduct in relation to two separate 737 MAX crashes and is currently under review by the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The first—Lion Air Flight 610—crashed on 29 October 2018 shortly after take-off from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. The second—Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302—crashed on 10 March 2019 near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, killing all 157 abroad.
In both cases, faulty data from a single angle-of-attack (angle of attack is the angle between the wing and the incoming air) sensor activated the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), repeatedly forcing the aircraft into unrecoverable nose-down positions.

In simple words, in both crashes, a faulty reading from just one sensor mistakenly told the plane it was climbing too steeply. This triggered an automated system called MCAS, which repeatedly pushed the plane’s nose down—so forcefully that the pilots couldn’t pull it back up.
Investigations later revealed that the pilots had neither been informed of MCAS nor trained to disable it—critical information that Boeing withheld from both regulators and airline operators.
DOJ filings and internal Boeing communications disclosed that company employees deliberately removed references to MCAS from pilot training manuals, mischaracterized the system’s function to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and failed to amend these omissions even after the Lion Air crash.

In an internal email dated 17 January 2017, a Boeing employee instructed: “delete MCAS, recall we decided we weren’t going to cover it” (DOJ Criminal Information, Jan 2021, p. 7). A finalized Flight Standardization Board (FSB) report shared on 7 July 2017 with two US airlines likewise omitted mention of MCAS, despite Boeing’s awareness of the system’s influence on aircraft behaviour.
These omissions formed the basis for the DOJ’s single criminal charge: conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the lawful functions of the FAA.

As part of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) signed in January 2021, Boeing agreed to pay over $2.5 billion, including a $243.6 million criminal fine, $1.77 billion in compensation to airline customers, and a $500 million victim fund for the families of the 346 people killed in the MAX crashes.
Boeing also committed to follow a three-year probation period, during which it was required to implement a comprehensive compliance and ethics program to ensure that the mistakes were not repeated.

A DPA is a legal mechanism that allows the DOJ to defer prosecution if the defendant—here, Boeing—meets certain conditions, including the admission of facts, restitution, and compliance monitoring. If the agreement is breached, the government can reinstate the original charges.
However, on 14 May 2024, the DOJ determined that Boeing violated the terms of the DPA, specifically by failing to implement and enforce a program capable of detecting and preventing fraud.
This opened the door to renewed prosecution not only for the original offence but also for any subsequent violations.

However, on 14 May 2024, the DOJ determined that Boeing violated the terms of the DPA, specifically by failing to implement and enforce a program capable of detecting and preventing fraud.
This opened the door to renewed prosecution not only for the original offence but also for any subsequent violations.
In July 2024, the DOJ and Boeing reached a new plea agreement in this case, which was later rejected by US District Judge Reed O’Connor on 5 December 2024. The judge cited procedural flaws and a lack of victim consultation in violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA).

Subsequently, on 16 May 2025, the DOJ held a virtual consultation with victims’ representatives as required under the CVRA, before filing a formal motion to dismiss the case on 29 May. Boeing has admitted to the facts outlined in the original DPA.
If approved, the new NPA would again allow Boeing to avoid trial in exchange for acknowledging the facts, paying over $1.1 billion in additional penalties and victim compensation, and committing to further compliance reforms. The matter remains under judicial review.
As of this writing, no individual executive from Boeing has been prosecuted despite every omission being accepted on record.
On 1 June, the US court issued a briefing schedule requiring responses to the DOJ’s motion by 18 June and replies from both the DOJ and Boeing by 25 June. The trial, previously set for 23 June, was vacated by court order on 2 June along with all associated pre-trial deadlines, effectively ending the legal troubles for Boeing.
“With this filing, the Department of Justice has walked away from any pretense to seek justice for the victims of the 737 MAX crashes,” said MIT faculty and aerospace expert Javier de Luis, who lost his sister in the Ethiopian Airlines crash, responding to the DOJ’s May 2025 submission.

A detailed questionnaire sent to Boeing did not elicit any response by the set deadline.
The Ahmedabad crash occurred against the backdrop of a company with a documented history of operational lapses—some of which, according to DOJ findings, were actively concealed. The consequences of these lapses are visible in the charred wreckage in Ahmedabad, the grieving families in Jakarta and Addis Ababa, and a growing erosion of public trust in both a corporate titan and the institutions meant to regulate it, including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India.

What happened on 12 June was not a random malfunction. It was the latest outcome of a broken system—one that repeatedly allowed Boeing to shape the boundaries of its own accountability.

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