Indian Pilots Seek Role in Review of Draft AAIB Report on Air India 171

India’s Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has asked for a formal role in any independent review of the draft final report into the Air India Flight 171 crash, as the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) nears the end of a probe that has run for more than 15 months.

The FIP request

In a letter dated 25 September 2026 to Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu, the FIP asked to be nominated as an “independent technical participant”, so that technical inputs from the pilot community are considered before the investigation is finalised, BusinessToday reported. The union also asked that evidence on the electrical systems of the Boeing 787 be evaluated in full.

Neither the ministry nor the AAIB had responded when the report was published.

Where the investigation stands

Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 registered VT-ANB flying from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed on 12 June 2025. The accident killed 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 people on the ground; one passenger survived. The AAIB’s preliminary report found that both engine fuel control switches moved from RUN to CUTOFF within seconds of lift-off, with a gap of about one second between them.

The AAIB has told India’s Supreme Court that a draft final report would be ready around October 2026. According to a summary of that filing, the bureau had completed 49 of 66 mandatory procedural steps. The areas under review include aircraft systems, flight recorder data, engine components, maintenance records and human factors.

Why a draft is not a release

October does not mean publication. Under India’s Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2025 and ICAO Annex 13, the draft first goes to the states involved, such as the states of registry, operator, design and manufacture. They are invited to submit significant and substantiated comments, normally within 30 days, which can be extended to 60 days on request. Only then can the bureau issue the final report publicly.

For readers following the case from abroad, that means the earliest realistic public release is likely to fall well after the draft is completed. The AAIB itself has said the October date is an estimate for the draft stage, not a release date.

A sensitive review

Requests for outside involvement are unusual because the Annex 13 process keeps draft reports confidential while states review them, and protected material such as cockpit audio and witness statements stays restricted to encourage candid cooperation. The FIP’s call to look at the 787’s electrical architecture points to the focus of debate among sections of the Indian pilot community; the AAIB has not endorsed any such theory in the material cited here.

Whatever the review mechanism, the AAIB’s conclusions on why the fuel switches moved are what the global 787 fleet’s operators and regulators will be waiting for.