Overview
- India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said reports that the AI-171 inquiry has been finalised are incorrect and speculative, adding that no final conclusions have been reached.
- The Supreme Court asked the Centre and AAIB to file a progress update and details of procedural protocol within three weeks as part of court proceedings seeking oversight of the probe.
- AAIB reiterated that its July 2025 preliminary report was factual only, noting near-simultaneous movement of both engine fuel switches from RUN to CUTOFF and a cockpit exchange, without assigning cause.
- Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported investigators would attribute the crash to an almost certainly intentional fuel cutoff by a pilot, a claim not endorsed by Indian authorities and formally rebutted by the AAIB.
- In a separate case, after the Jan. 28 Baramati Learjet crash that killed Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, the DGCA launched a phased safety audit of non‑scheduled operators as political figures pressed for broader, multi‑agency inquiries.