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India to Send Investigators to NTSB in Washington for Final Technical Phase of Air India 171 Probe

The Washington session will use NTSB lab tools to correlate cockpit audio with flight data to probe how the fuel‑control switches moved.

Overview

  • An AAIB team is expected to travel to NTSB headquarters next week to review recorder data and present its analysis alongside U.S. counterparts.
  • Representatives from other parties to the investigation, including Boeing, are expected to attend the Washington meeting, according to multiple reports.
  • The visit will focus on specialized CVR and FDR correlation and on assessing the recovered fuel‑control switches’ condition to distinguish human action from malfunction.
  • Preliminary findings reported earlier indicate the switches transitioned to off shortly after takeoff, with CVR audio capturing a pilot questioning the other, though investigators say no final conclusions have been reached.
  • Officials have offered few public details, pilots’ unions reject suggestions of pilot-caused error, and a final AAIB report is expected before June 2026.