Both engines are being examined. The right engine was new, installed in March 2025. The left engine was last serviced in 2023 and was not due for maintenance again until December 2025. Investigators are also exploring other factors, including flap settings, fuel flow, the aircraft’s flight management system, and possible crew error.

According to former AAIB investigator Kishore Chinta, investigators will look closely at the engines to determine whether they were generating power at the time of impact. The enhanced flight recorders on the Boeing 787 will also provide detailed information on aircraft performance and cockpit audio.

Safety Oversight and Public Response

The presence of a tall building just 300 meters from the airport boundary has raised questions about regulatory compliance. Aviation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan noted this could be a serious violation and accused authorities of issuing licenses without proper inspection.

Amit Singh, another aviation safety analyst, said the crash did not come as a surprise to those working in aviation safety. He pointed to a pattern of smaller incidents that went unaddressed. Singh described a lack of trust between regulators and operators.

Air India’s Position

N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Air India’s parent company Tata Group, stated that both engines had a clean history and emphasized the importance of waiting for the black box analysis. He said Tata Group would provide over $100,000 in compensation to each victim’s family and cover the medical costs of the injured.

The airline announced a 15 percent reduction in international operations involving wide-body aircraft until mid-July. Safety checks were ordered for its fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft. As of June 18, 26 out of 33 Dreamliners had completed the inspection process.

A Systems Engineering Perspective

From a systems engineering standpoint, the crash highlights the importance of:

• Integrated system verification. The sequence of events within seconds of takeoff suggests the need for robust air transportation system and subsystem verification, looking for and triggering prevention of failure modes.

• Complete, verified and validated requirements. The proximity of a multi-story building near the flight path raises concerns about overlooked constraints and environmental safety requirements in airport design.

• Interface management. In aviation, miscommunication or disconnect between subsystems, such as flight controls, engine controls, engines, and navigation, can be fatal. Ensuring seamless interaction across interfaces is critical to avoiding system-level failure.

• Lifecycle-based safety assurance. Investigations will likely explore the aircraft’s service history, recent component replacements, and whether there were unresolved maintenance or operational issues.

• Model-based techniques. Simulation using Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) could help foresee and analyze failure patterns like the one observed here, informing system design by providing a deeper understanding of how failures and their impact propagate under stress.

The investigation into Flight 171 is ongoing. While it may take months to reach final conclusions, early evidence points to the importance of rigorous engineering practice, regulatory oversight, and cross-disciplinary systems thinking to prevent tragedies of this scale.