AAIB says Air India crash final report due by October 2026
AAIB says the Air India AI-171 final report will wait until October 2026, leaving families with unanswered questions over the fatal switch movement and a 260-death crash.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau told the Supreme Court that the draft final report on the Air India AI-171 crash will be ready by October 2026 after pending technical and procedural work is completed. The draft is due more than a year after the Boeing 787-8 came down shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad with 260 people dead and only one passenger surviving.
The probe is being carried out under the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017 and ICAO Annex 13, with participation from multiple agencies and international stakeholders. Cockpit voice recordings and airborne image recordings cannot be shared publicly because of legal restrictions, and protected material such as witness statements, air traffic control communications and medical records must remain confidential. The filing answered a plea for a court-monitored inquiry from Pushkaraj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, and the Federation of Indian Pilots.
The June 12, 2026 interim statement says the AAIB had already released a preliminary factual report on July 12, 2025 and carried out an extensive review of technical, operational, organisational and human factors. The bureau has made progress on aircraft systems, flight recorder data, engine-related components, maintenance records and operational records. Investigators have also prepared a cockpit voice recorder transcript, carried out a psychological autopsy and received the psychologist's final report, while analysis of data retrieved in late May from an engine monitoring unit is still pending and organisational-factor assessment remains in progress.
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The preliminary report found that the fuel control switches moved from RUN to CUTOFF seconds after takeoff, cutting thrust as the aircraft climbed away from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport and crashed near the BJ Medical College hostel area. The report did not determine whether the switch movement was deliberate, inadvertent or caused by a malfunction. The wreck killed 241 people on board and 19 on the ground.
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