File picture: Wreckage from the Air India plane that crashed moments after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, on a building in the city, on June 12.
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Aviation experts as well as pilots have cast “serious doubts” on the preliminary findings of the Air India Flight 171 crash investigation, especially surrounding the role of pilots in allegedly causing the mishap.
Speaking to businessline, the Indian aviation industry stakeholders have warned against premature assumptions insinuating procedural lapses in the cockpit.
Experts have cited the potential for critical mechanical failures in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The preliminary report released in the early hours of Saturday IST revealed that both engines shut down seconds after take-off.
The report prepared by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) stated that just three seconds after reaching its peak speed of 180 knots, both fuel control switches were found to have transitioned from ‘run’ to ‘cutoff’ mode, causing both engines to shut down mid-air.
However, the report did not cite the cause of this occurrence. The crew tried to restart the engines, moving both fuel cutoff switches back to “run” positions.
This move allowed ‘engine 1’ to begin the recovery process; however, ‘engine 2,’ while relighting, couldn’t arrest its core speed deceleration. The aircraft failed to gain altitude and crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel compound, less than a nautical mile from the runway.
The report issued no immediate safety recommendations, noting the aircraft was airworthy, certified, and had no major defects.
Veteran aviator Captain Shakti Lumba said the AAIB may have misread critical flight data. Lumba noted that the aircraft’s flight data recorder only monitors fuel valve position and not the cockpit switch position, suggesting that the report may have wrongly inferred cockpit actions.
Besides, Lumba challenged the report’s ‘clean chit’ to Boeing and GE, and stated that a more thorough investigation needs to be conducted, preferably by a ‘Judicial Court of Inquiry.’
Martin Consulting CEO, Mark D Martin, called the notion of a pilot manually cutting off fuel to both engines during take-off “unthinkable” and emphasised the absence of any mention of cockpit camera footage that could validate crew behaviour.
He said the AI 171 preliminary report will have a ‘global ramification’ on all 787 operators. Furthermore, he asserted that the 787 Dreamliner is a comprehensively digitally controlled and software-driven aircraft that constantly needs patches and system updates.
Pilots’ body reacts
Meanwhile, the Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA-India) has pointed out opacity in the investigation and sidelining of qualified flight crew from the probe.
It has raised alarm over the serviceability bulletin referenced in the preliminary report, which highlighted a potential malfunction related to the aircraft’s fuel control switch gates.
The association also warned that without answers to several of its fundamental questions, the integrity of the investigation as well as the safety of ongoing operations remained in doubt.
Other industry stakeholders said the investigation needed to synchronise data from the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder with the exact timing.
The preliminary report has not released the entire cockpit voice recorder transcript. Pilots say it’s not possible that only two sentences were uttered and then the ‘May Day’ message relayed.
“If there is a loss of thrust in aircraft during take-off, the pilot who is monitoring the parameters would call out that and the same would get recorded,” a senior captain said.
As of now, the investigation is ongoing and is expected to yield a final report within 12 months.
Published on July 12, 2025
