AI171 crash probe: AAIB assessing various aspects; nothing has been ruled out, says source

In its preliminary report on the crash that was released on July 12 last year, AAIB said the fuel supply to both engines of the plane was cut off within a gap of one second, causing confusion in the cockpit soon after takeoff.

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

In one of the worst aircraft accidents in India, a total of 260 people, including 241 passengers, died after Air India’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI171 to London Gatwick crashed soon after take off from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025.All aspects related to technical, operational, organisational and human factors are being looked into, and it is a very complex process. Certain components of the aircraft are also being examined by AAIB, the source told PTI.The source also said the probe runs on the ”theory of elimination”, and the SHELL model approach is followed.SHELL refers to Software, Hardware, Environment, and Liveware, with each element being scrutinised closely before reaching a conclusion on the most probable cause for the crash.

"Nothing has been ruled out” in the investigation so far, the source said.Queries sent to the AAIB remained unanswered.According to a report on Friday, the probe might be leaning towards deliberate pilot action as the probable cause for the accident.In its preliminary report on the crash that was released on July 12 last year, AAIB said the fuel supply to both engines of the plane was cut off within a gap of one second, causing confusion in the cockpit soon after takeoff.”In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off. The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” it had said.

The Supreme Court, in September last year, termed as ”unfortunate and irresponsible” the selective publication of a preliminary report on the June 12 Air India crash, which outlined lapses on the part of pilots and paved the way for a ”media narrative”.In August last year, Pushkaraj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who was one of the pilots of the ill-fated Air India Dreamliner, demanded a ’formal investigation’ by the central government.In a letter to the civil aviation secretary and AAIB Director General, 91-year-old Pushkaraj had said that selective leaks about the accident have led to speculation that Sumeet (56) was under tremendous psychological pressure and, therefore, was contemplating committing suicide.