‘An act of sabotage is an act of terrorism against India': Gaurav Taneja says he'll ‘lose his mind' if this Air India 171 theory is true

Indian Express

6 hours ago

YouTuber Gaurav Taneja, known as Flying Beast online, offered his detailed theory for what could've caused the recent Air India Flight 171 crash in Ahmedabad. On June 12, over 250 people died when a Boeing 787 crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad. Investigations are still ongoing. But in these last few days, Taneja has offered several comments on the case, beginning with his suggestion shortly after the tragedy that it seemed to be a rare case of 'dual engine failure'. He has since defended the pilots against questions about their competence, and has also raised concerns about airline safety standards in India. Before he became a content creator full time, Taneja graduated from IIT Kharagpur and served as a commercial pilot for a decade.
In his new video, which runs at nearly an hour long, he laid out his reasons for suggesting that pilot error could have partially been the cause for the crash. This comes days after he said that the easiest thing to do for airlines is to blame the pilots, because they typically aren't alive to defend themselves after disasters of this magnitude. In the past, Taneja also blew the whistle on Air Asia, accusing the airline of slack safety protocols and dangerous KRAs for pilots. He was terminated from his job.
Also read – Gaurav Taneja, aka Flying Beast, opens up on chance of pilot error in detailed analysis of Air India Flight 171 crash: 'May have killed the wrong engine'
In his video, he dunked several theories around the Air India 171 crash, ruling out a bird strike, bad weather, or even a software malfunction. He suggested that the aircraft suffered a single-engine failure during takeoff, at a point when it was too late to abort. He also suggested that the aircraft was overloaded with cargo, which caused it to consume a larger than normal chunk of runway. Air India 171 crashed seconds after takeoff, when it dropped out of the sky after seemingly losing all lift and power. Experts have also indicated that the ram air turbine (RAT) was automatically deployed as a last-ditch measure, indicating all loss of power.
Taneja said in the video, 'Fuel contamination is a wild theory. If this turns out to be true, I'll lose my mind. Let me tell you why this can't happen. On that day, several aircraft in Ahmedabad would've received fuel. The aircraft in question must've stood in the bay, it would've taxied to the runway, it took off. There must be some fuel leftover from its previous flight as well. The truck that fuelled this aircraft must've fuelled other aircraft as well.'
He said that there are several checks and balances in place to prevent contaminated fuel from entering an aircraft. 'The fuel supplier checks the fuel first, airline engineers conduct checks as well. Fuelling trucks are so advanced these days, they also have the capability to check. If it finds that there is something wrong with the fuel, it will stop the fuelling process itself. It's all automatic, the aircraft handles everything itself. So now, if you tell me that the fuel was contaminated, it's an act of sabotage. It's an act of terrorism against the country. I don't want to believe this is true.'