A new report has revealed the last words exchanged between Air India Flight 171’s pilots moments before their aircraft crashed into a residential area of Ahmedabad in India.
The media has been fraught with speculation about human error in the month following this decade’s d*adliest air disaster that claimed the lives of 260 people on board and the ground.
A favored theory was that the passenger jet, built by Boeing–which suffered a rash of embarrassing and sometimes fatal technical failures–had lost power in both its engines simultaneously.
A fifteen-page report has revealed the pilot’s last conversation
Image credits: AntJKernich/11AEXIT
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) report, published on July 12–exactly a month after the disaster–has since strengthened the loss-of-power theory.
The 15-page document containing images of devastation claims one pilot was heard asking the other why he “cut off” the aircraft’s fuel supply, to which his colleague claimed he did not.
The revelation drew attention to the aircraft’s fuel cutoff switches, which, when toggled, deprive the aircraft’s engines of fuel, causing them to stall.
Image credits: TheGemsofX
They are described as “highly reliable” and designed to not flip accidentally.
The switches blamed for the accident cannot be toggled accidentally
An unnamed Canadian expert speaking to the BBC on July 12 confirmed as much when they said:
“It would be almost impossible to pull both switches with a single movement of one hand, and this makes accidental deployment unlikely.”
Image credits: iAtulKrishan1
“You can’t bump them [causing them to] move,” U.S. aviation expert John Cox confirmed.
Another aviation guru, Anthony Brickhouse, summed up the resulting conundrum by asking, “Did [the cutoff switches] move on their own, or did they move because of the pilots?”
“And if they were moved because of a pilot, why?”
Immediately after, a pilot was heard saying, “Thrust not achieved… falling”
Regarding the Air India B787 AI171 crash report, the fuel control cutoff switch requires manual physical activation by the pilots and locks securely in either the “run” or “cutoff” position. It cannot move independently. Even if one fuel control switch was moved, both switches… pic.twitter.com/wS4As5AlxY
— Fahad Naim (@Fahadnaimb) July 12, 2025
The AAIB report said that immediately after the exchange about the fuel cutoff, one of the pilots was heard saying: “Thrust not achieved… falling… Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!”
As a nod to the AAIB’s assertions, it emerged shortly after the crash on June 12 outside Ahmedabad airport in India’s western state of Gujarat, that ground control had received a distress call.
Image credits: OfficialJoel4
“The ATCO enquired about the call sign. ATCO did not get any response but observed the aircraft crashing outside the airport boundary and activated the emergency response,” the report elaborated.
The switches were off for 10 seconds before reengaging
From the AAIB’s perspective, “the aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC.
Image credits: OfficialJoel4
“Immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec.
It went on to say that the fuel cutoffs reengaged after 10 seconds, starting with Engine 1, and followed by Engine 2, four seconds after:
“As per the EAFR, the Engine 1 fuel cutoff switch transitioned from CUTOFF to RUN at about 08:08:52 UTC. The APU Inlet Door began opening at about 08:08:54 UTC, consistent with the APU Auto Start logic.
Image credits: TheGemsofX
“Thereafter at 08:08:56 UTC the Engine 2 fuel cutoff switch also transitions from CUTOFF to RUN.”
The jet was carrying 54 tons of kerosene, which would have lasted it to London
The preliminary report concluded that the “Investigation is continuing and the investigation team will review and examine additional evidence, records and information that is being sought from the stakeholders.”
Image credits: SophieRainForum
The fuel deprived from the jet’s engines ignited when the aircraft crashed, and videos depict a towering incandescent plume reaching skywards seconds after the passenger liner disappeared from view.
According to the AAIB report, Flight 171’s 54 tons of kerosene would have lasted 10 hours and 4,253 miles to London.
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