The Supreme Court of India has extended the deadline by three weeks for the government to submit its report on the Air India AI-171 Boeing 787 crash, following a hearing before Justice Suryakant. The court accepted the Centre’s plea, insisting on a sealed-cover filing, with proceedings resuming post-extension.
Dated June 12, 2025, the Ahmedabad takeoff turned nightmare as Flight AI-171 hurtled into a medical college hostel mere seconds airborne. Envisioned for London, the Dreamliner carried 241 souls under Captain Sumit Sabharwal’s command; all perished alongside 19 ground casualties, totaling 260 deaths. Fuel starvation to dual engines emerged as the prime suspect in early reviews.
Sparking the legal battle, Captain Sabharwal’s elderly father, aged 91, sought judicially supervised scrutiny via petition, joined by the Federation of Indian Pilots. In court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta detailed the investigation’s advanced phase, pinpointing foreign lab analysis of parts as the lone holdup.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan pressed the urgency, unveiling three analogous Boeing 787 fuel switch glitches and rallying 8,000 pilots’ fears for the model’s airworthiness, advocating immediate grounding. Echoing a recent Air India incident from London prompting one plane’s grounding—cleared by DGCA—he amplified safety alarms.
Drawing from Boeing 737 Max precedents, where concealed defects shifted blame from pilots, Advocate Gopal Shankar Narayanan bolstered the case. Justice Suryakant flagged a parallel recent event, critiquing superficial official assurances and advising restraint against airline-specific accusations.
Amid mounting pressure for transparency, this reprieve allows meticulous evidence piecing. Outcomes could indict design flaws or operational lapses, fueling reforms in aviation oversight and restoring public confidence shaken by this profound loss.