Fuel Switch Failure Behind Air India Crash: AAIB Preliminary Report

The mystery surrounding the Air India plane crash has been resolved. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has prepared a preliminary report after analyzing cockpit data and other available evidence related to the accident. Several sensational revelations have come to light in this report. Contrary to earlier speculation, there was no evidence found of a bird hit or any other sabotage-related activity causing the crash. As is known, on June 12, Air India flight AI 171 crashed shortly after takeoff, resulting in the death of all passengers except one. According to the preliminary report released by the AAIB, the crash occurred due to a stoppage in fuel supply to the aircraft’s engines. The conversation between the pilots at the time of the accident was recovered from the cockpit voice recorder. Based on that conversation, it is evident that fuel supply to the aircraft stopped just moments after takeoff.

After the aircraft gained speed, the two switches that supply fuel to the engines were switched one after the other from ‘run’ to ‘cut-off’. When one pilot questioned the other—"Why did you turn off the fuel switch?"—the other pilot replied, “I didn’t turn it off.” These are the only details found in the cockpit voice recorder. Immediately after, both switches were turned back from ‘cut-off’ to ‘run’. While one switch functioned properly, the second failed to gain speed. Right after that, a "Mayday, Mayday" message was sent to the ATC. Since the aircraft had a full fuel load, the fire during the crash spread massively. Passengers on board, students in the college hostel, and people on the ground were all reduced to ashes in the incident. Photos and videos related to the crash were also examined, and several aspects were included in the report. It is already known that the Boeing 737 Dreamliner aircraft, which departed from Ahmedabad for London, crashed—prompting renewed debate over the safety of Boeing aircraft. The report raises questions such as: why did the fuel control switches turn off automatically? Was this due to a maintenance lapse by Air India or a technical flaw in the Boeing aircraft? That remains to be determined.