As the investigation into the Air India Flight 171 plane crash on Thursday (June 12) afternoon gathers impetus, an expert has broken ranks with his opinion on the likely cause of the disaster.
The incident resulted in all but one passenger’s death and nothing but an account of a loud bang on board, per 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who limped out of the wreck, and reports of a distress call shortly after take-off.
US Navy veteran turned commercial pilot and YouTuber, Captain Steve, spoke to CNN’s India outlet and called pilot error.
One detail leading to his belief was the fact that videos of the ascending plane indicate its landing gear had not been retracted when required.
Captain Steve discounts bird strikes and dirty jet fuel
Image credits: John McArthur (Not the actual photo)
“The gear never comes up,” the aviator told an anchor in a virtual meeting, claiming that it “creates a tremendous amount of drag.”
He then pointed to the plane’s short ascent before it started to “lose lift.”
Image credits: ShivAroor
“The only plausible explanation for this is the loss of power theory.”
In lay terms, this usually happens when the jet’s engines stop performing as they should, which is usually the result of dirty fuel clogging up the supply lines or birds flying into–in this case–both engines.
Image credits: Captain Steeeve
The veteran flyer immediately debunked his second theory when he pointed out that the CCTV footage of the Boeing 787’s last moments depicts no birds.
“Now the video is from a distance and it’s grainy,” he admits, “but that would have to be a lot of birds to take out both engines.”
Contrary to what many assume, Captain Steve believes the plane’s engines never lost power
Image credits: Captain Steeeve
“I think that the engines were operating at full capacity,” the commercial pilot asserted.
But the problem, according to him, lay in a simple error that quickly became irreversible and turned fatal.
Image credits: ShivAroor
“[The aircraft] climbs up right about [to] the point where the pilot flying would ask for the gear to be raised up into the aircraft,” Captain Steve says.
“That never happened.”
“I don’t know if he asked for it or didn’t we don’t know we don’t have a voice recorder yet but the gear never comes up,” he says, circling back to his observation.
It is likely the pilot pulled on the wrong lever
Image credits: Captain Steeeve
“It could be that the wing was reconfigured,” Captain Steve says.
“In other words, [the wing] went from flaps out for takeoff to flaps being retracted.”
According to the YouTuber, this could have happened when either Captain Sumeet Sabharwal or First Officer Clive Kunder in the cockpit called for the wheels to be retracted, the other mistakenly pulled the wrong lever.
The mistake resulted in the aircraft losing speed and lift too quickly for them to correct the error. And the result was fatal.
His theory does not account for the loud noise heard by the only survivor
As noted by viewers, Captain Steve’s theory does not factor in the “loud bang” recounted by the catastrophe’s only survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40.
The British national, seated right in front of economy class for what he expected to be a long haul home, claimed he saw people dying around him.
Image credits: Osint613
When he opened his eyes and realized he had survived, he limped out of the wreck, apparently escaping the explosion and the incandescent plume caused by 100 tons of igniting jet fuel.
Another cryptic hint of distress in the cockpit seconds before disaster was Mayday call. But attempts by ground control to respond went unanswered.
Both the aircraft and pilots were seasoned flyers
Image credits: air india
According to a report by the BBC, Captain Sabharwal, the senior officer on deck, was a 22-year commercial airline veteran, a tenure during which he accumulated more than 8,000 flying hours.
The aircraft itself was acquired by the in 2014 and had 41,000 hours of flying time,nearly 8,000 takeoffs and landings, according to aviation analytics company, Circum.
Air India will be paying out $28,000 per deceased passenger’s family
Message from Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air India. pic.twitter.com/o1wQnReCaG
— Air India (@airindia) June 14, 2025
The cause of the crash is yet to be officially disclosed. In the meantime, stakeholders like Boeing president and CEO Kelly Ortberg have weighed in, offering support and condolences.
“Boeing team stands ready to support the investigation led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau,” Ortberg said in a statement.
Air India has since indicated that it intends paying out interim compensations of $28,000 to the families of each crash victim.
Some netizens think it is too soon for speculation
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