The investigation of aircraft accidents is an important source of learning for the aviation industry and beyond. Whilst protected by international standards and European and national legislation, and emulated across other sectors, aircraft accident investigation faces a number of challenges. These include: technical challenges surrounding complexity, concerns about the protection of sensitive evidence, maintaining investigator currency and the maintenance of investigator competency. Faced with such challenges, is it time that aircraft accident investigation benefited from a change in approach or has it evolved to meet the challenges that have surfaced along the way?