Air India Crash Report Delayed as Investigation Continues

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The final report about why an Air India Ltd. jetliner crashed last year won’t be issued by Friday’s mandatory deadline, with a government agency saying the investigation into the country’s worst commercial airline disaster still isn’t finished.

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said authorities have carried out an extensive examination of the technical, operational, organizational and human factors associated with the accident over the past year. However, more work needs to be done.

“Additional technical evaluations and specialist examinations, wherever considered necessary, will continue to be undertaken to ensure that all findings and conclusions are supported by verified evidence and sound scientific analysis,” according to the AAIB statement.

Air India declined to immediately comment.

Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that the delay is because examination of the Boeing Co. plane’s engines — made by GE Aerospace — is still being done in the US. The final report may come within three months, people familiar with the matter said.

Flight AI 171 crashed June 12 last year, just 32 seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad en route to London. The accident killed 241 passengers and crew, along with 19 people on the ground, after the aircraft slammed into a densely populated urban area beyond the airport perimeter. One passenger miraculously survived.

The final report is supposed to be completed within a year of the accident.

AAIB released its preliminary findings on schedule on July 12 last year. That report said both engines shut down after two fuel control switches in the cockpit were moved from the “run” to the “cut-off” position in quick succession. It did not establish why the switches were moved by or by whom.

Cockpit audio captured one pilot asking the other why he had flipped the switches, and the other denying doing so. The report did not identify which pilot made which remark.

The delay in the final report on the first-ever accident involving a 787 Dreamliner may also allow investigators to address concerns raised by a pilots’ association, which urged AAIB to conduct a deeper examination of the aircraft’s computer and operating systems rather than focus narrowly on what it called the “pilot suicide theory.”

The statement released Friday urged the public to refrain from speculation or premature conclusions about what caused the crash.