Investigators are still continuing to investigate the serious crash of Air India Flight 171. This investigation follows the tragic accident that occurred on June 12, 2025. The flight was returning from Ahmedabad, India, to London. Tragically, it crashed only 32 seconds after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board. This catastrophic event has sparked a complex investigation led by India’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), with significant input from U.S. officials due to the aircraft’s American design and manufacturing.
A little over a month after the accident, the AAIB issued a preliminary report. Perhaps most telling, it showed that the fuel cutoff switches were switched from the “run” position to “cutoff” only a few seconds after takeoff. This finding has come under a great deal of criticism and discussion, especially as to pilot error.
The Foundation for Aviation Safety (FAS), based in the United States, is working to assist with their ongoing investigation. They say an electrical fault is likely to have been a significant causal factor of the crash. The FAS drew attention to previous electrical problems with the Boeing 787 plane. Incidents such as leaking water into wiring bays created critical evidence of possible systemic failures that could have contributed to this tragedy.
The AAIB moved quickly to release its interim report in July. Critics lambasted the report for over-emphasizing pilot error and not sufficiently probing the technical anomalies. Many stakeholders contended that this premature and shortsighted approach put undue blame on the pilots. Capt. Amit Singh, founder of the Safety Matters Foundation, underscored this worry.
“The way in which the preliminary report was framed was biased because it appears to suggest pilot error, without disclosing all the technical anomalies that occurred during the flight.” – Capt. Amit Singh
The Supreme Court of India has weighed in on the contest, with a Supreme Court hearing set for November 10. Sumeet Sabharwal and Amit Singh have added serious challenges to the investigation’s methodology, deepening the contention surrounding an already fraught process.
Mike Andrews, the attorney for most of the victims’ families, made clear his displeasure with the narrative that has emerged around the crash. He expressed alarm that families would be subject to false claims about the actions of the pilots. He wanted to highlight the integrated nature of aircraft systems today.
“An aircraft like this – that is so complex – has so many things that could go wrong.” – Mike Andrews
Critics of the preliminary report have claimed that it rushed to the conclusion of pilot error as a cause. Cambell Wilson, Air India’s chief executive, recently highlighted over a thousand electrical defects existing in the planes.
“There were so many of what we consider electrical oddities on that plane, that for them to come out and to all intents and purposes direct the blame to the pilots without exhaustively going through and examining potential system failures, we just thought was flat out wrong.” – Cambell Wilson
Yet public sentiment around this crash has been a hotbed of speculation and snap conclusions. Capt. Amit Singh expressed concern that many people hastily labeled the incident as pilot suicide or intentional misconduct based on limited information.
“Then, in my opinion, the whole world jumped to conclusions and right away was saying, ‘this is pilot suicide, this was intentional.’” – Capt. Amit Singh
Justice Surya Kant’s remarks during a recent hearing are a welcome indication that things may be changing. He implored families impacted by the crash to release any unfair judgment associated with their members’ behavior.
“It’s extremely unfortunate, this crash, but you should not carry this burden that your son is being blamed. Nobody can blame him for anything.” – Justice Surya Kant
Here’s his commentary on the four specific consistencies that may result in the fuel being cut off.
“Did somebody deliberately shut down the fuel, or was it somehow or another a slip that they inadvertently shut off the fuel?” – Robert Sumwalt
As investigations continue, a number of subject matter experts emphasize the importance of remaining open-minded to all possible causes. A former senior air accident investigator had this warning. They warned against rushed, premature conclusions before absorbing the complexity of all the variables that go into these tragic events.
“Keeping an open mind.” – A former air accident investigator
Although an interim report has made its way into the public sphere, the final report is highly anticipated by many stakeholders. International air accident investigation protocols provide that a final report should as a rule be released. This needs to occur within 12 months of a crash. With each passing day, the call grows louder for answers about what happened in those deadly seconds leading up to Flight 171’s crash.