AI 171 Crash: 'Crash Report Has Created More Doubts And Confusion'

'When there are glaring errors in the report, how can you trust anything in it?'

IMAGE: The wreckage of the Air India flight on the rooftop of the doctors' hostel in Ahmedabad, June 13, 2025. Photograph: ANI video grab

There were many theories, many assumptions and many guesses on what might have caused the Air India Flight 171 crash in Ahmedabad on the 12th of June 2025.

A month after the crash, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has released its 15 page preliminary report.

Soon after the crash, there were talks about the deployment of Ram Air Turbine (RAT) which gets automatically deployed when both the engines fail. According to aviation experts, a double engine failure hardly happens.

So, the question was, how did both the engines fail?

What was shocking about the preliminary report was the cockpit voice recordings. The conversation between the pilots according to the report was, 'Why did you cut off?' The other pilot responded, 'I did not do so.'

They were talking about the fuel supply switches.

What does it suggest?

"The final report will have more details after the analysis of the Digital Flight Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder. But whatever information they have got points to why the accident took place," Captain A Mohan Ranganathan, a former airline instructor pilot and aviation safety advisor, tells Rediff's Shobha Warrier.

Did the preliminary report suggesting that the fuel supply switches were off, come as a surprise to you?

What we all know was that both the engines could fail only under certain circumstances.

And the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) comes out only when both the engines fail.

Initially I didn't think about this possibility. Only after reading the report did I come to know that the switches were moved to off position.

What raised my suspicion was when they started talking about the sabotage angle and appointing a director general of police onto the committee. That has never taken place in any of the probes before.

You feel the puzzle got solved by this revelation?

Yes. The final report will have more details after the analysis of the Digital Flight Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder. But whatever information they have got points to why the accident took place.

You never apportion blame even in the final report. Only in India, they do that.

The recommended thing by ICAO Annexe 13 is you identify the cause of the accident and come out with recommendations of procedures to prevent a recurrence.

Unfortunately in India, we apportion blame. But there is no accountability, there is no transparency.

And this report is full of blatant errors which shows zero professionalism in the DGCA and the investigation board.

Take page 11 of the report which gives you the details of the pilots.

No accident report gives the names of the crew but on the very first day, the DGCA gave the names of the crew which is not correct according to Annexe 13 of ICAO.

It says the date of issue of airline transport pilot license as May 2021. And this pilot has been flying various aircraft, which means his license would have been issued almost 20 years ago. So, the date -- May 2021 -- is a glaring mistake.

Now, when you come to the experience of the pilot. They have given his command experience on 787 as more than 8,000 hours. The crash was in June 2025. Does that mean he did more than 8,000 hours in four years? DGCA duty tab limitation says you can't do more than 1,000 hours a year!

When there are such glaring errors in the report, how can you trust anything in it?

Next. On page 14 is the conversation between the pilots. One pilot says, 'Why did you cut off?' The other pilot responded, 'I did not do so'.

A cockpit voice recorder records all the sounds in the cockpit on different channels. It is mandatory to use the headphone and the captain's mic will be recorded on one channel and the co-pilot's on the second channel. All the other sounds in the cockpit will be recorded in the area mic including the engine sound.

So, they know exactly who said why did you cut off?.

Because if the captain had asked the question, it would come on his channel and if the co-pilot said that, it would come on the co-pilot's channel.

And they have not given CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) record of every second as the whole take-off to the crash is only one-and-a-half minutes.

They could have revealed what was said, what was the sound, what was the response of every second.

This particular page is enough to show that there was zero transparency.

IMAGE: The CCTV screenshot of RAT Deployment. Photograph: Kind courtesy AAIB report

Is there any chance of anyone switching off the fuel supply unintentionally?

Not at all. For the simple reason that if you want to 'Run', the fuel selector switches have to be pulled out, and move to 'Run'. And if you want it to 'Cut off', you have to pull it off and move it to 'Cut off'.

It is not that you can push it up with a finger or pull it down with a finger.

Then people are talking on and on of electrical fault, software error, etc. the fact is, this can be done only manually.

After the AAIB report, both US FAA and Boeing have come out with statements saying the switches could only be operated manually.

Will any pilot accidentally switch off the fuel supply when the flight is taking off?

Only an intentional human intervention can cause that.

So, it is not an electric fault. It is not an aircraft fault.

We can put a stop to all the rumours with one act; by releasing the entire cockpit voice recorder transcript instead of doctoring any statement.

Then, it will put to rest the anxiety and fear people are going through.

IMAGE: The tail of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane stuck on a building. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

The report talks about the conversation between the pilots but who said which sentence is not revealed...

They know exactly which pilot said what. And to give a vague statement like this is a very poor attempt to cover up.

And the co-pilot was flying the aircraft and both his hands were on the controls. There was no way he could have operated the switches.

So, the only other person whose hands were free because he was not the pilot but the pilot monitoring. He was the one who could have done it because it was not an electrical failure or system failure. It has to be a manual selection.

And in the case of manual selection, it has to be one or the other pilot.

And the voice recorder can positively identify who said what.

Where is the transparency when you don't discourse the cockpit voice recorder transcript? They have really created more doubts and more confusion.