Close scrutiny: Investigators after visiting the Air India plane crash site in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Several international investigating agencies have reached Ahmedabad to assist India’s apex body for probing air crashes, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), with the inquiry into last week’s Air India Boeing 787 crash that killed 241 onboard.

Those who have arrived include representatives from the top investigating agency of the U.S. for transport accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB); the civil aviation watchdog of the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); and the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), multiple sources said. A team of aerospace manufacturer Boeing is also expected to participate in the investigation.

Air India Ahmedabad plane crash LIVE updates

Among those who died in the crash were 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian citizen. The remaining 181 were Indians, including 12 crew. 

Review meeting

The Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, P.K. Mishra, visited the crash site and the BJ Medical College where the bodies had been brought to. He discussed the ongoing relief, rescue, and investigation efforts during a high-level review meeting with senior officials from the Central and State governments, the AAIB, and the Airports Authority of India. He reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to providing all possible support to victims’ families and ensuring a coordinated response across all agencies involved. The Principal Secretary was accompanied by Tarun Kapoor, Adviser to the PM, and Mangesh Ghildiyal, Deputy Secretary, PMO.

The AAIB retrieved the black box a day after the June 12 crash from the accident site, i.e., the BJ Medical college hostel campus. The next steps involve “milking” the data from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and digital flight data recorder (DFDR), which together comprise the black box. Milking implies downloading of raw data, which could take up to 25 hours for the DFDR and two hours for the CVR. After this, the data will be analysed to interpret flight parameters such as speed, angle of attack, among others. The two exercises together could take up to four to five days, said a former senior investigator of the AAIB.

During the last air crash involving Air India Express aircraft at the Calicut International Airport in August 2020, the black box was sent to the U.S. because the AAIB didn’t have its own facility. In April 2025, Minister for Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu inaugurated a DFDR & CVR Laboratory at the AAIB headquarters in New Delhi.

A questionnaire sent to Ministry of Civil Aviation on Sunday seeking details of where this data would be downloaded, among others, remained unanswered.

The above quoted former official said the AAIB didn’t have a Boeing 787-”type trained” investigator until at least 18 months ago. He felt that such an expertise could only come from Air India, which is the only airline to fly this type of aircraft in the country, but deputing their personnel may imply a conflict of interest.

He said that the AAIB may have to look overseas for such expertise. Questions sent to the AAIB DG, Group Captain G.V.G. Yugandhar, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation on onboarding “type-trained” investigators too remained unanswered.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is an office attached to Ministry of Civil Aviation. It investigates accidents and serious incidents involving aircraft weighing more than 2,250 kg.

According to standards laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN aviation safety watchdog, the state probing an accident or incident is expected to produce a preliminary report within 30 days. “A publicly available final report is encouraged to be produced by the state in charge of the investigation within 12 months of the accident, says Annex 13 of the ICAO’s Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), which provides standards for accident investigations. As per Annex 13, the state of occurrence is responsible for the investigation and controls the release of all information regarding the probe.

The NTSB had earlier said in a press statement on X that as per international protocols under the ICAO, all information on the investigation will be provided by the Government of India. The FAA had said that “in the event assistance is requested, the NTSB is the official U.S. representative and the FAA provides technical support”.

The NTSB participates in the investigation of aviation accidents and serious incidents outside the U.S. in accordance with the Chicago Convention of the ICAO.

The government has also constituted a separate committee under the Chairmanship of the Home Secretary, which will recommend standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent air accidents, as well as guidelines for emergency response involving multiple stakeholders.