The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), one of India’s two pilot bodies, has asked the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) for a formal technical hearing before it closes its investigation into the Air India AI-171 crash in June 2025 that claimed 260 lives.
The 5,000-member federation is seeking a meeting with the investigating team by 15 September and has proposed areas that its “technical interaction” would cover, including simulator configuration, assumptions and methodology; reconstruction of the sequence of events; and correlation of flight-data recorder, cockpit voice recorder, air traffic control and maintenance information.
The discussions would also cover crew performance, workload, and human-machine interaction; cockpit alerts; aircraft systems; system logic; protections and failure modes; flight maintenance and technical records; and operational and regulatory oversight.
The FIP has urged the AAIB to consider further examination, simulation, or specialist analysis wherever its submissions raise questions that require additional evidence.
In a letter dated 17 August to AAIB director general G.V.G. Yugandhar, FIP president C.S. Randhawa invoked a 28 July Supreme Court order in which the government assured the court that the federation’s inputs and suggestions would be considered in the ongoing investigation. Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter.
The FIP's stand
The pilots’ association had earlier raised concerns with the investigation and sought to submit its findings as an independent professional body. This time, however, it is asking the AAIB to give those concerns a formal place in the probe before the final report is finalized.
“The FIP respectfully submits that consideration of inputs from an established professional pilot organization would contribute to the technical robustness, completeness and safety value of the investigation,” it wrote.
The letter quotes solicitor general Tushar Mehta's assurance given to the Supreme Court verbatim: “The inputs and suggestions given by the Federation of Indian Pilots will be duly taken into consideration in the process.”
The Supreme Court recorded the government’s assurance and was informed that the final report was likely to be issued in the first week of October.
The FIP said the assurance requires more than merely receiving its correspondence, and that it wanted its technical submissions formally placed before the investigation team for evaluation.
“...an interaction prior to finalization would enable the investigation team to independently assess whether any of the submissions warrant further examination,” the letter said.
The federation has asked the AAIB to “formally acknowledge the FIP as a professional aviation stakeholder”, providing technical and operational inputs.
It has also asked investigators to identify the technical discipline or subject-matter experts to whom each substantive issue has been referred. Where an alternative technical hypothesis is rejected, it wants the technical basis and evidence for that conclusion communicated to it, subject to confidentiality requirements.
Pilots' concerns
The demand is the latest step in a dispute the FIP has pursued since soon after the crash.
The FIP’s concerns have centred on the interpretation of the cockpit events and the technical sequence leading to the crash. The AAIB’s preliminary report recorded that the two engine fuel-control switches moved from “RUN” to “CUTOFF” within a second of each other shortly after take-off. It also recorded a cockpit exchange in which one pilot asked about cutting off the fuel. The report did not establish why the switches moved.
The exchange led to speculation that one pilot may have deliberately shut off the engines. The FIP has opposed what it has described as a premature “pilot error” or “suicide” narrative.
In June 2026, it also raised questions about the timing of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) deployment, the aircraft's emergency power source, and fuel-control switch movements, and sought Boeing 787 simulator testing. It argued that a potential electrical or system problem could not be ruled out without further examination.
It subsequently raised questions relating to aircraft maintenance and possible electrical disturbances.
In its current letter, however, the FIP said it “is not seeking to influence or prejudge the investigation”. It also said it “does not seek any predetermined conclusion or finding”.
The federation said its participation would “strengthen the credibility of the final report” and enhance public confidence.
Mint's queries emailed to the ministry of civil aviation and the AAIB remain unanswered.
Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed shortly after take-off on 12 June 2025. Of the 242 people on board, 241 died. Nineteen people on the ground were also killed.