July 12, 2025: In a stunning revelation, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has released its preliminary findings into the June 12 crash of Air India Flight, B787-8 aircraft AI-171, which claimed the lives of 241 passengers and 19 people on the ground, making it the deadliest aviation disaster in India in over a decade.
The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner AI-171 plunged into a medical college hostel mere seconds after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. According to the 15-page AAIB report, both engines lost thrust within a single second. a catastrophic failure traced to the fuel control switches being turned off mid-air.
🎧 In one of the most chilling exchanges extracted from the cockpit voice recorder, a pilot can be heard urgently asking:
“Why did you cut off the fuel?”
To which the other responds:
“I did not do so.”
The data, meticulously extracted from the aircraft’s black boxes, comprising the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR), provides a haunting glimpse into the chaos in the final seconds before impact.
No Conclusions Yet, Says Minister about AI-171 Crash
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol, speaking to reporters in Pune on Saturday, stressed the preliminary nature of the report.
“This is an early-stage analysis. The conversation between pilots is too brief to draw firm conclusions,” said Mohol.
“Unlike earlier, we no longer need to send black boxes abroad. The AAIB now has full domestic capability to investigate these events independently and rapidly.”
INVESTIGATION ONGOING | HUMAN ERROR SUSPECTED BUT NOT CONFIRMED
While experts suspect possible pilot error or procedural lapse, the AAIB has emphasized that further investigation is needed before confirming causality. The fuel control switches, critical systems that manage fuel flow to engines, are designed with multiple fail-safes, leading experts to question how such a simultaneous shutdown could have occurred without mechanical failure or external input.
Aviation Safety Experts React
Aviation analysts say the sudden thrust loss and nearly simultaneous engine shutdown suggest a severe procedural misstep or miscommunication in the cockpit. “It is almost unprecedented for both engines to lose thrust within a second of each other without external damage or systemic failure,” one analyst noted.
About the Crash
- Flight AI-171 was a scheduled long-haul flight from Ahmedabad to London.
- Just minutes into the climb, the aircraft veered off course and crashed into the Shastri Medical College Hostel, setting off a massive blaze.
- Only one person onboard survived, a 7-year-old child pulled from the wreckage.
- Emergency crews described the crash site as “a scene of utter devastation.”
The AAIB is expected to release a final report in the coming months, which will incorporate further technical analysis, simulator re-creations, and crew background assessments. The aviation community and public alike now await clarity on whether this was a tragic error, a mechanical fault, or a deadly mix of both.
