The FSL team examines the tail of Air India AI171, which crashed into BJ Medical College hostel in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off. | Photo credit: The Hindu
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) granted three weeks to complete the ongoing Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigation into the Air India Flight 171 crash at Ahmedabad airport that killed 12 crew members and 229 passengers on June 12 last year.
“There is a lot of anxiety and questions in the minds of the pilots, the next of kin (of those who died)… We are also eagerly waiting for the results of the investigation. We also want to see what they have to say,” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who headed the bench, told Attorney General Tushar Mehta for the government.
The court asked Mr. Mehta to file the AAIB report after the investigation is over.
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During the hearing, Mr Mehta said a detailed and international investigation was underway and asked for another three weeks. He said the probe was not meant to point fingers at anyone for the accident but to reveal the reason that led to the tragedy.
“No one wants to blame the pilots. The investigation is about the cause of the accident,” explained the general prosecutor.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
At one point, while addressing questions about the safety of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the CJI asked how many other airlines around the world were using the plane.
After receiving a response that “a lot of airlines do that,” Chief Justice Kant noted that grounding the Dreamliners could effectively lead to the grounding of airlines serving the country.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for 91-year-old Pushkarraj Sabharwal, along with advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi argued that a separate court of inquiry headed by a retired judge was the law and norm after the major air crash.
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The CJI replied that “the slightest air accident leads to disastrous consequences”. The Bench emphasized that it would wait for the AAIB to come out with its report.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi reiterated in the bench that the purpose of the AAIB investigation under Section 4C of the Aircraft Act 1934 and the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules 2017 was not to assign blame.
Mr. Sankaranarayanan said the investigation report should be submitted to the court in a sealed envelope.
Mr. Sabharwal, along with the Indian Pilots Federation, requested the Supreme Court for an independent and judicially supervised investigation into the accident. His petition was sparked by an “ugly” report about his son and rumors of pilot error. He claimed the AAIB investigation was flawed.
His petition followed a preliminary report released to the media that included what is believed to be a brief verbal exchange between the two pilots captured on the flight’s black box.
Published – 11 Feb 2026 22:20 IST