The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team probing last year’s fatal Air India plane crash is examining certain components of the aircraft and assessing various aspects, and “nothing has been ruled out” in terms of the factors that could have led to the accident that killed 260 people, according to a source.

In one of the worst aircraft accidents in India, a total of 260 people, including 241 passengers, died after Air India’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI171 to London Gatwick crashed soon after take off from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025.

All aspects related to technical, operational, organisational and human factors are being looked into, and it is a very complex process. Certain components of the aircraft are also being examined by AAIB, the source told PTI.

The source also said the probe runs on the “theory of elimination”, and the SHELL model approach is followed.

SHELL refers to Software, Hardware, Environment, and Liveware, with each element being scrutinised closely before reaching a conclusion on the most probable cause for the crash.

“Nothing has been ruled out” in the investigation so far, the source said.

Queries sent to the AAIB remained unanswered.

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According to a report on Friday, the probe might be leaning towards deliberate pilot action as the probable cause for the accident.

In its preliminary report on the crash that was released on July 12 last year, AAIB said the fuel supply to both engines of the plane was cut off within a gap of one second, causing confusion in the cockpit soon after takeoff.

“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off. The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” it had said.

The Supreme Court, in September last year, termed as “unfortunate and irresponsible” the selective publication of a preliminary report on the June 12 Air India crash, which outlined lapses on the part of pilots and paved the way for a “media narrative”.

In August last year, Pushkaraj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who was one of the pilots of the ill-fated Air India Dreamliner, demanded a ‘formal investigation’ by the central government.

In a letter to the civil aviation secretary and AAIB Director General, 91-year-old Pushkaraj had said that selective leaks about the accident have led to speculation that Sumeet (56) was under tremendous psychological pressure and, therefore, was contemplating committing suicide.

ALSO READ: All Probable Causes Leading To Air India Plane Crash Being Investigated

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Wednesday said AAIB will take an in-depth look into the plane crash at the Baramati airport, and there are no safety concerns regarding the aircraft’s operator.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others died in a Learjet 45 aircraft accident on Wednesday morning.

The aircraft, bearing registration VT-SSK, was being operated by the Delhi-based non-scheduled operator VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd.

Teams from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are at the crash site, Naidu said.

Talking to media persons on the sidelines of the aviation summit Wings India 2026 about the crash, Naidu said, “We just need (an) in-depth look” at what happened that time.

The minister spoke after he visited the crash site at Baramati.

On whether there were any safety concerns related to the operator, Naidu replied in the negative.

ALSO READ: Baramati Plane Crash: ‘Lack Of Instrument Landing System’ May Have Contributed

“The DGCA has thoroughly checked, and all the approvals have been given, and the organisation also seems to have gone through one assessment last year itself…So, on that side, we don’t see any (concerns) and they have been handling many flights…,” the minister said.

Responding to queries about uncontrolled airfields and flying training organisations, the minister also said things will be looked at and if any reforms are required, “definitely, we will go ahead”.

The Pilot In Command (PIC) of the crashed plane had more than 15,000 flying hours and was an experienced person.

“So, there is no problem on that side…,” he said.

When asked whether the Learjets have any safety concerns globally, Naidu said nothing has come to their notice.

Describing it as a “very unfortunate incident”, Naidu also emphasised that he wants to talk only on the inputs from the AAIB.

In response to a query about rumours related to the accident, the minister said some are like false narratives and “I want to base what I am speaking on true facts”.

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The Baramati plane crash, which killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others on Wednesday, could have been avoided if the airport runway had been equipped with an instrument landing system to guide the pilot through marginal visibility, according to an aviation expert.

There is a need to ensure that all evidence at the crash site is preserved and not tampered with, as they will be crucial for the probe, which is being carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), they said, adding that the (exact) cause of the accident can only be known after the investigation is completed.

“Baramati airport has a small field runway, but it is sufficient for (aircraft like) Learjet to land. I do not think that the runway would contribute to this crash, as it happened before or outside the runway.

“So, it is not the runway. (But) Yes, if the runway was equipped with ILS (instrument landing system) or other instrument systems that would guide the pilot properly during marginal visibility conditions, this (the crash) could have been avoided,” retired pilot Ehsan Khalid told PTI Video service.

The reported visibility was “marginal”, which means neither very good nor bad, and it was not so bad that it would have called for a diversion, he said, adding that “it was not something which we can call pure visual flight conditions to be like clear skies”.

“It appears that the aircraft had made an approach to land and thereafter it had gone round, which means it had aborted the landing and gone round in the first attempt of its landing,” Khalid said.

Stating that while the cause of the accident can only be known after the investigation is completed, he said as per the available information, “there is no clear evidence whether this go round was done because of no-contact with the runway or because of poor visibility or weather conditions or unstabilised approach”.

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While there are no details on that, he said the “first approach was carried out as a missed go round and thereafter this aircraft was on a second approach when it met with this accident”.

Khalid said as far as he knew, Baramati airfield does not have an instrument landing system, and so if there is a poor visibility condition, then the pilot and the aircraft have to actually navigate through absolute eye contact with the runway, and if the visibility is down, there is very little help that comes from the instruments.

Describing Sumit Kapoor — who had a flying experience of over 15,000 flying hours and was commanding the mid-size Learjet 45 small jet at the time of crash — a gentle soul, Khalid said, “I do not know what was the condition at that point of time in the cockpit or whether bad weather was coupled with some technical fault and that aggravated the situation so that the aircraft could not be controlled on approach”.

“I am at a loss to say why it happened, and I would not like to conjecture anything on this,” he said.

“If it is something that is related to the visibility and weather conditions, we do not have sufficient reports to actually come to any kind of a conclusion that there was a technical defect or not,” he said.

He also said that since there is no survivor in this crash, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) will be recovered from the wreckage for forensic evidence by the investigators.

Moreover, the DGCA by now would have already taken into their possession all the technical documents related to this aircraft in Mumbai or wherever the technical documents are stored, so that they will see if there was any deficiency in the aircraft at the time of dispatch, which was not disclosed to the pilot, he said.

Generally, for such VIP flights, aircraft technical clearances are also considered to be very important, he added.

“First of all, the investigators will try to recover the black box of the aircraft and cordon off. As you can see from the pictures that we are getting from there, the people who’ve all surrounded the aircraft and the debris, and this is not the most ideal scene.

“I just hope they sanitise that area and ensure that nobody tampers with or tries to pick some of the evidence that will be crucial in the AAIB (probe),” said aviation expert Sanjay Lazar.

Baramati airport is a very well-equipped airport, while the mid-sized business jet Learjet 45 is an “extremely safe” aircraft, Lazar said.

Refusing to speculate on the cause of the crash at this time, he said, “I would rather like to see what will happen. They’ll collect the evidence, decode the black box and then they’ll be able to say what had happened. I’m not even sure if the pilot issued a mayday call or if it just occurred in a flash”.

He, however, said the pilots who fly the chief ministers, deputy chief ministers, and the cabinet ministers are highly-qualified pilots, and as it was a bright sunny day, “there’s really no reason for us to understand why this could have happened”.

ALSO READ: Ajit Pawar’s Remains Confirmed By Wristwatch After Air Crash

Toronto:

At least 18 people were injured after a Delta Air Lines regional jet flipped upside down upon landing at Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday amid windy weather following a snowstorm. There were 80 people aboard the US carrier’s flight that originated at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Authorities said three people on the flight, including a child, suffered critical injuries. There is no report of any casualty so far. 

Canadian authorities said they would investigate the cause of the crash, which was not yet known.

Caught On Camera

A passenger named Pete Koukov posted a video on Instagram of his rescue by authorities from inside the plane after it crashed. The footage shows passengers being evacuated from an upside-down aircraft as a fire engine sprayed water on it from outside.

Footage captured by another survivor of the accident is also doing rounds on social media showing a female passenger suspended upside down in her seat after the plane had overturned.

“My plane crashed I’m upside down,” she wrote alongside the recording.

The video then showed frightened travellers scrambling to exit the aircraft while making their way to safety. “I was just in a plane crash, oh my god,” the distressed passenger remarked.

BREAKING: STUNNED TORONTO PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR SHARES VIDEO OF MOMENT DELTA JET FLIPPED

DELTA AIRLINE WAS THE ONLY US AIRLINE TO RESIST COMPLYING WITH DONALD TRUMP‘S EXECUTIVE ORDER TO END DEI POLICIES

A Delta passenger plane carrying 76 people crashed at Toronto’s Pearson… pic.twitter.com/0jNOXcawyi

— SANTINO (@MichaelSCollura) February 17, 2025

Another passenger John Nelson also posted a video of the aftermath on Facebook, showing a fire engine spraying water on the plane that was lying belly-up on the snow-covered tarmac.

Terrifying footage from John Nelson, a passenger on Delta Flight #DL4819. The plane flipped upside down upon landing in Toronto after a 1.5 hour trip from Minneapolis, MN.

Miraculously, only 8 of 60 passengers are reported injured. The rest have walked off unharmed. pic.twitter.com/P7qbMBj0IQ

— Jordan Rhone (@JordanRhone) February 17, 2025

He later told CNN there was no indication of anything unusual before landing.

“We hit the ground, and we were sideways, and then we were upside down,” Nelson told the television network.

“I was able to just unbuckle and sort of fall and push myself to the ground. And then some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being helped down, and others were able to get down on their own,” he said.

Chronology Of The Crash 

Earlier on Monday, Pearson Airport said it was dealing with high winds and frigid temperatures as airlines attempted to catch up with missed flights after a weekend snowstorm dumped more than 22 cm (8.6 inches) of snow at the airport.

The Delta plane touched down in Toronto at 2:13 p.m. (1913 GMT) after an 86-minute flight and came to rest near the intersection of Runway 23 and Runway 15, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

“The aircraft is upside down and burning,” an emergency worker told the air traffic control tower after a controller noted that some passengers were walking near the crashed plane, according to a recording of the incident posted on liveatc.net.

Deborah Flint, president of the Toronto airport, attributed the absence of fatalities in part to the work of first responders at the airport.

“We are very grateful that there is no loss of life and relatively minor injuries,” she said at a press conference.

Michael J. McCormick, associate professor of air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said the upside-down position made the crash fairly unique.

“But the fact that 80 people survived an event like this is a testament to the engineering and the technology, the regulatory background that would go into creating a system where somebody can actually survive something that not too long ago would have been fatal,” he said.

Airport Delays

Delta, in a statement, said a CRJ900 aircraft operated by its Endeavor Air subsidiary was involved in a single-aircraft accident with 76 passengers and four crew members on board. The 16-year-old CRJ900, made by Canada’s Bombardier and powered by GE Aerospace engines, can seat up to 90 people.

All 18 of the people injured were passengers and were taken to area hospitals, Delta said in a statement.

Of those injured, two were airlifted to trauma centres, and a child was transported to a children’s hospital, said Supervisor Lawrence Saindon of Peel Regional Paramedic Services.

The Toronto airport was shut down for more than two hours before departures and arrivals resumed. This led to ground delays and diversions to other airports including Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, which said it was preparing to receive several diverted flights that might cause further delays.

Flint said on Monday evening there would be some operational impact and delays at Toronto Airport over the next few days while two runways remained closed for the investigation.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said it was deploying a team of investigators, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said a team of investigators would assist Canada’s TSB.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which closed a deal to buy the CRJ aircraft program from Bombardier in 2020, said it was aware of the incident and would fully cooperate with the investigation.

The crash in Canada followed other recent crashes in North America. An Army helicopter collided with a CRJ-700 passenger jet in Washington, killing 67 people, while at least seven people died when a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia and 10 were killed in a passenger plane crash in Alaska.

New Delhi:

Days after a passenger jet and military helicopter collided in Washington DC, killing all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, a new report has revealed that air traffic facilities in the US are reeling under severe staff shortages.

Over 90 per cent of the United States’ 313 air traffic control facilities are operating below the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) recommended staffing levels, The New York Times has reported.

As of January, 285 facilities, including traffic control towers and other locations, were below staffing thresholds set by the FAA and the controllers’ union. Staffing at 73 of these facilities is so low that at least a quarter of the workforce is absent.

According to a CBS News report, the matter came under scrutiny after an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk Army chopper collided near Reagan National Airport. At the time of the incident, only one air traffic control worker was managing the helicopters and some planes from the Reagan National Airport tower, a task that usually requires two individuals.

The US air travel system remains one of the safest in the world, but the ongoing staff shortages and underinvestment in safety measures have resulted in an alarming number of close calls.

The shortfall is particularly significant in the New York area, where two critical facilities on Long Island operate with approximately 40% of the posts unfilled. These facilities manage air traffic for some of the busiest airports in the US which include Newark, JFK and LaGuardia, which handled 1.2 million flights last year, as per the data from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration projections, efforts to hire and train more controllers have already begun but are expected to fall short of staffing demands. Despite extensive training, around three-quarters of facilities will stay below recommended staffing levels.

Improving the ranks will take time as training a new air traffic controller can take over four years at certain facilities and nearly 16 months at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, The New York Times further mentioned.

About 2 per cent of the towers fulfilled the Collaborative Resource Working Group’s 2024 staffing targets for fully trained air traffic controllers, according to CBS News. According to the analysis of 2023 staffing data for nearly 200 airport towers, around 8 per cent met the objective, even after accounting for hundreds of air traffic controllers still in training.

Melbourne:

On Wednesday night US time, a passenger jet and US Army helicopter collided at a low altitude near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and crashed into the Potomac River.

A total of 60 passengers – including US and Russian champion figure skaters – and four crew were on board the American Airlines flight AA5342 from Wichita, Kansas. Three military personnel were in the chopper, which was conducting a routine training flight. Authorities say no one on board either aircraft survived.

This crash comes just over a month after a passenger jet crashed in South Korea – possibly as a result of a bird strike – killing all but two of the 181 people on board. The two incidents have focused attention on aviation safety around the world.

In the case of the most recent tragedy in the US, technology exists that is designed to help pilots avoid midair collisions with other aircraft. It is known as the Traffic Collision Avoidance System – or TCAS.

So how does it work? And why might it have failed to prevent disaster in this case?

What is a TCAS?

A TCAS is an aircraft safety system that monitors the airspace around a plane for other aircraft equipped with transponders. These are devices that listen for and respond to incoming electronic signals.

The system – also sometimes referred to as an ACAS (Airborne Collision Avoidance System) – operates independently of an external air traffic control system. Its purpose is to alert pilots immediately to nearby aircraft and potential midair collisions.

Since the technology was developed in 1974, it has undergone a number of advances.

The first generation technology, known as TCAS I, monitors what’s around an aircraft. It provides information on the bearing and altitude of any nearby aircraft. If there is a risk of collision, it generates what’s known as a “Traffic Advisory” – or TA. When a TA is issued, the pilot is notified of the threat, but must themselves determine the best evasive action to take.

The second generation technology, known as TCAS II, goes a step further: it provides a pilot with specific instructions on how to avoid a collision with a nearby aircraft or conflict with traffic, either by descending, climbing, turning or adjusting their speed.

These newer systems are also able to communicate with each other. This ensures the advice given to each aircraft is coordinated.

Any aircraft used for commercial purposes must be equipped with a TCAS in accordance with international regulations under what’s known as the Chicago Convention. There are specific provisions under the convention for noncommercial aircraft.

Military helicopters are not subject to the provisions of the Chicago Convention (although they are subject to domestic laws and regulations). And there are reports the military helicopter did not have a TCAS system on board.

Limitations of TCAS at low altitudes

Regardless of whether the military helicopter involved in the crash was fitted with a TCAS, the technology still has limitations. In particular, it is inhibited at altitudes below roughly 300 metres.

The last recorded altitude of American Airlines flight AA5342 was roughly 90 metres. The last recorded altitude of the US military helicopter that collided with the plane was roughly 60 metres.

It is not an accident that a TCAS is inhibited at low altitudes. In fact, this is part of the design of the technology.

This is primarily because the system relies on radio altimeter data, which measures altitude and becomes less accurate near the ground. This could potentially result in unreliable collision-avoidance instructions.

Another issue is that an aircraft at such a low altitude cannot descend any further to avoid a collision.

The site of several near misses

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Commercial, military and private aircraft share very limited airspace and corridors.

It has been the site of several near misses in recent years.

For example, in April 2024, a commercial plane pilot coming into land had to take evasive action to avoid a helicopter that was roughly 100 metres beneath it. In an incident report, the pilot said:

We never received a warning of the traffic from (air traffic control) so we were unaware it was there.

Many people, including Democratic US senator Tim Kaine, pointed to this near miss as evidence of why a plan to allow more flights into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport should not proceed. Despite this, the plan was approved the following month.

All of this will undoubtedly be examined as part of the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board into this disaster.

Author: Chrystal Zhang, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Aviation, RMIT University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Rescue boats search Potomac River after a plane on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into it.

PSA Airlines, an American regional airline passenger jet collided midair with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, near Reagan Washington Airport. The jet crashed into the Potomac River, which borders the airport.

Juba, South Sudan:

A plane has crashed in the north of South Sudan killing at least 20 people, leaving only one confirmed survivor, Unity State’s minister for information said Wednesday. The aircraft came down near the oil fields in Unity State at around 10:30 am local time (0830 GMT) shortly after taking off for the capital Juba.

“The plane crashed 500 metres away from the airport,” Gatwech Bipal Both told AFP by phone.

“21 people were on board. As for now, there’s only one survivor.” 

The survivor, a South Sudanese engineer working at the oil field, has been rushed to Bentiu State hospital, the minister said.

He said the Ukrainian Passenger aircraft, chartered by the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) and operated by Light Air Services Aviation Company, was on a routine mission to the area.

“The state government is in a deep sorrow by this accident”, he added, saying there would be an investigation.

“Although most people predicted that this might be a mechanical collision,” he added, without giving more details.

All of the passengers are employees of GPOC: 16 South Sudanese, two Chinese nationals and 1 Indian, according to the manifest seen by AFP, confirmed by local authorities.

Pictures shared on social media showed the crumpled aircraft upside down in a field, debris spread across the area.

In some of the images — which AFP has not been able to independently verify — a body could be seen spilling from the wrecked fuselage.

South Sudan broke away from its northern neighbour in 2011 and has faced severe economic and political instability ever since.

The young nation lacks a reliable transport infrastructure and air accidents are common, the crashes frequently blamed on overloading or poor weather.

In 2021 five people were killed after a cargo plane carrying fuel for the UN’s World Food Programme crashed near Juba.

Overloading of planes is common in South Sudan, and was believed to have contributed to the 2015 crash of an Antonov plane in Juba that killed 36 people.

In 2017, 37 people had a miraculous escape after their plane hit a fire truck on a runway in Wau before bursting into flames.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)