The Federation of Indian Pilots has asked the government not to let the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau release an interim report on the Air India crash in Ahmedabad, saying it would only deepen confusion in an investigation that already carries enormous weight. The appeal came as the one-year deadline for the final inquiry report draws close, with June 12, 2026, now the key date.
That deadline matters because the crash on June 12, 2025, killed 260 people, including 241 aboard the Dreamliner, and left only one passenger alive. Families of the dead are still waiting for answers, and the question now is whether the AAIB will move early with a partial account or hold back until the full report is ready. For readers following the case, the developing coverage around the Air India crash report nears as carrier faces fresh pressure has become part of the wider scrutiny on what happened and why.
The federation made its case in a detailed report sent on Friday to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Civil Aviation Ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the AAIB. In that submission, Captain CS Randhawa argued that Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation does not require an interim report and said such a document would be incomplete by nature because investigations are still continuing. He warned that releasing one now could produce speculation rather than clarity and might even hurt the work still being done by investigators.
The pilots’ body also pressed a technical challenge to one theory being examined in the probe. It said ACARS maintenance messages sent before and after the plane became airborne point toward a rebuttal of the pilot-suicide theory under review, and it cited ten ACARS messages transmitted by AI 171 while airborne at 1:38:39 hrs on June 12. The federation also pointed to a U.S. patent it says relates to FADEC and fuel-metering fail-safe logic, arguing that the design allows auto shutdown of both engines and that a failure in the minor feedback loop can switch fuel flow into a fail-safe mode, potentially leading to an in-flight shutdown.
Randhawa also wrote that electrical disturbance involving abnormal current flow, arcing, insulation breakdown or grounding-path current could spread into the Boeing 787 Common Core avionics and network environment. His letter cited mainstream media reports that said eyewitnesses saw the late captain’s body recovered while still gripping the flight controls after the accident, a detail that has added to the weight of the debate over what happened in the cockpit.
Yet the friction is plain: while the federation argues that an interim report would only cause confusion and speculation, reports have emerged that the AAIB may still issue one to satisfy the 12-month deadline mandated by ICAO. That leaves the investigation at a delicate point. The final report remains due by June 12, 2026, and until then the central question is whether the bureau will stop short of a partial account or put one out before the deadline to show progress.
