More time needed for deadly Air India crash inquiry, officials say

2 days agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on Google Flora Drury EPA The crash killed all but one person on board, and 19 more people on the ground Investigators looking into the cause of the Air India crash that killed 250 people say they are not yet ready to release their final report. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released an update on Friday, the first anniversary of the disaster, saying "significant progress" had been made in the analysis of evidence relating to the crash but that this was ongoing. It gave few other details, including when the final report might be released. The exact cause of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad en route to London on has been the subject of widespread speculation. The plane came down about 6km (3.7 miles) from the airport, crashing into a building used as doctors' accommodation at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital and causing an explosion. It left 19 people dead on the ground, as well as killing 241 on board. Of the passengers and crew killed, 169 were Indian nationals and 53 were Britons. The AIIB was required to provide an update on the anniversary of the crash in line with international aviation rules. There had been widespread doubt that its latest report would be conclusive. In May, India's civil aviation minister muddied the waters when he told reporters the investigation into the crash was into its "last stage", and that the final report would "mostly... come after a month". A preliminary report was published on 12 July last year, finding that just seconds after take-off, fuel-control switches abruptly moved to the "cut-off" position, starving the engines of fuel and triggering total power loss. Audio recordings from the cockpit captured one pilot asking the other why he had done it, with the other replying that he had not. Investigators did not identify which pilot made either statement. In the days following its release, attention turned to the pilots. The Wall Street Journal and news agency Reuters reported that new details in the investigation were shifting attention towards the senior pilot in the cockpit - Capt Sumeet Sabharwal. "A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight" that crashed last year supported the view that the "captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane's engines", the Reuters report said, citing unnamed sources. The media reports prompted a strong backlash from pilots' associations in India, which criticised the coverage and rejected suggestions that the senior pilot had caused the crash, as well as the AAIB.