Air India AI171 crash probe: AAIB examining aircraft components, ‘nothing ruled out’ yet

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team probing last year’s deadly Air India plane crash is examining some components of the plane and assessing various aspects, and according to a source, “nothing has been ruled out” in terms of factors that could have led to the crash, which killed 260 people.

In one of the worst plane crashes in India, a total of 260 people, including 241 passengers, died when Air India’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI171 crashed at London Gatwick shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025.

All aspects related to technical, operational, organizational and human factors are being considered and it is a very complex process. The source told PTI that some components of the aircraft are also being examined by the AAIB.

The source also said that the investigation operates on the “principle of elimination”, and the SHELL model approach is followed.

Shell refers to the software, hardware, environment and liveware, with each element being closely examined before reaching a conclusion on the most likely cause of the accident.

“Nothing has been ruled out in the investigation so far,” the source said.

Questions sent to AAIB remained unanswered.

The investigation may lean toward deliberate pilot action as a possible cause of the crash, according to a report Friday.

In its preliminary report on the accident released on July 12 last year, the AAIB said the fuel supply to both the aircraft’s engines was cut off within a span of one second, causing confusion in the cockpit shortly after take-off.

It said, “In the cockpit voice recording, one pilot can be heard asking the other why he hung up. The other pilot responded that he did not.”

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The Supreme Court in September last year had termed as “unfortunate and irresponsible” the selective publication of the preliminary report on the June 12 Air India crash, which highlighted lapses on the part of the pilots and paved the way for a “media narrative”.

In August last year, Pushkarraj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, one of the pilots of the Air India Dreamliner, had sought a ‘formal inquiry’ from the central government.

In a letter to the Civil Aviation Secretary and AAIB Director General, 91-year-old Pushkarraj had said that selective leaks about the accident have led to speculation that Sumeet (56) was under tremendous psychological pressure and hence was contemplating suicide.