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Vox
23-07-2025
- General
- Vox
Everything we know about the Air India crash points to an uncomfortable truth
writes about pop culture, media, and ethics. Before joining Vox in 2016, they were a staff reporter at the Daily Dot. A 2019 fellow of the National Critics Institute, they're considered an authority on fandom, the internet, and the culture wars. The back of Air India flight 171 is pictured at the site after it crashed in a medical college's residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. Sam Panthaky/AFP via Getty Images With 260 casualties and only one surviving passenger, the Air India 171 crash is one of the deadliest aviation incidents in recent history — and so far it's proving to be one of the most frustratingly opaque. Video of the June 12 incident had previously captured the Boeing 787 taking off successfully from Ahmedabad bound for London, only to rapidly descend, crash into a medical college complex, and explode into flames. The crash killed all but one of the plane's 242 occupants. It also damaged five buildings, killed 19 people on the ground, and injured over 60 more. The weeks that followed saw rampant speculation, AI-generated hoaxes, and conspiracy theories. Finally, on July 11 India's air safety organization, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), issued a preliminary report into the cause of the disaster. The 15-page report pinpointed a dark and disturbing factor as the reason for the crash: Shortly after takeoff, someone or something cut the flow of fuel to both engines, almost simultaneously. This caused a brief but fatal dual engine shutdown that proved impossible for the plane to recover from. The implications of that double shutdown are quite bleak — but there's still a lot we don't know. Vox Culture Culture reflects society. Get our best explainers on everything from money to entertainment to what everyone is talking about online. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. What caused the crash? In the weeks following the tragedy, public speculation about the potential cause ranged from a bird strike to an electrical problem; some suggested fuel contamination, others a malfunction with the wing flaps. Many focused on what seemed to have been an extreme occurrence suggested by the visibility of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), which deploys when there are engine problems: a total engine failure. Over on YouTube, many analyzed the crash, including some pilots. Among them was Trevor Smith, call sign 'Hoover,' a former military pilot who now flies for a commercial airline. On the side, he runs the YouTube crash analysis channel Pilot Debrief. Following the Air India crash, he emphasized what seemed to be the dual loss of thrust to both engines, and speculated that perhaps one engine had lost thrust for an unknown reason and that then one of the pilots had accidentally turned off the fuel control switch to the other engine, causing both to lose thrust. Smith was hypothesizing a scenario in which at least one engine had been lost due to a mechanical failure, and an overwhelmed pilot mistakenly deactivated the other engine. The preliminary report, however, was more grim. It rejected all of those possibilities and instead pointed firmly toward a simple but unthinkable event: Both engines were shut down, first one and then the other, by way of the fuel control cutoff switch. In most Boeing airplanes, the flow of fuel to the engines gets activated via two fuel control switches. In the Boeing 787, the jet fuel control switches sit in the main console of the aircraft just below the throttles (which are used to control thrust power). The fuel switches are not easy to engage by accident; they have a built-in spring-loaded locking mechanism that requires anyone using them to first pull up on the knobs, turn them slightly, and then maneuver them up or down into the position you want — a bit like a safety-proof lid on a pill bottle. Additionally, two raised metal guards on either side of the two switches protect against accidental bumping or jostling. The console of a Boeing 787. Paige Vickers; Vox/Getty Images There were no historical issues with the switches on this particular 787, and that section of the console had been refurbished as recently as 2023. Additionally, following the crash, other Air India Boeings were inspected, and no fuel switch issues were found with any of them. In a second inspection, Air India reportedly found no issues with the locking mechanisms on the switches either. This crucial context underscores both the reliability of the switches — they were functioning normally with no problems — and the guardrails that were in place to protect against any associated mishaps. With the metal guards and the locking mechanisms, it would be all but impossible for an accident to knock both switches into the cutoff position, especially at the same time. And yet what we know from the preliminary report is that the fuel cutoff switches were somehow switched from 'run' to 'cutoff' — from 'on' to 'off,' effectively. They were moved immediately after the airplane lifted off the ground and reached its maximum takeoff speed of 180 knots, or about 207 miles per hour. In a follow-up analysis video, Smith mapped out the timeline provided in the report, emphasizing that the two switches were turned off in quick succession, just a second apart — a short gap that makes sense, he noted, if someone were to move their hand from one switch to another. Without a fuel supply, the engines immediately lost power. The RAT began supplying hydraulic power to the plane a few seconds after the fuel was cut off. A few seconds after this, one or both pilots realized what had happened. They placed the switches back into the correct position about nine seconds after they were moved. The engines began to restart, but by the time they had recovered, it was already too late. Initial media reports claimed that whichever pilot made the mayday call to air traffic control had stated, 'Thrust not achieved,' as the explanation for the call shortly before losing contact. However, the investigative report didn't include this statement, and recordings from the cockpit have not been made public. What we do know is that according to the preliminary report, 'one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off [the fuel]. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.' So was the cutoff done intentionally? The preliminary report has drawn criticism for its vagueness, and for the lack of a direct transcript of the aforementioned moment from the cockpit recorder. The AAIB has also drawn fire for its decision not to issue any safety guidelines as a result of the early stages of its investigation. However, the report was clear that the investigation is ongoing, and multiple pilots associations have cautioned against speculating before all the facts are known. Still, through its inclusion of the cockpit exchange, the preliminary report indicates that one pilot realized the switches had been manually moved and questioned the other pilot about it before moving the switches back into the 'run' position. Given the virtual impossibility of an accidental dual cutoff, and the extreme unlikelihood of a dual engine shutdown being caused by any other issue, the pilot's implied assumption in the moment that his colleague had manually moved the switches himself seems reasonable. Following the report's release, the Wall Street Journal reported that the investigation was intensifying its focus on the captain, 56-year-old Sumeet Sabharwal. As the pilot monitoring, Sabharwal would likely have had his hands free during the takeoff, while the first officer, Clive Kunder, 32, would have been busy actually flying the plane. According to the Journal, the exchange referenced in the preliminary report involved Kunder querying Sabharwal about why the captain had moved the switches. In the following moments, Kunder 'expressed surprise and then panicked' while Sabharwal 'seemed to remain calm.' Of course, without video of the moment, and without knowing more about the closely held details of the investigation thus far, it's difficult to know what the situation in the cockpit truly was. It's possible that Kunder's panic and Sabharwal's calm reflected nothing more than their respective level of career experience. As Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal recently explored, the power imbalance in a cockpit between a senior and a younger or less experienced pilot can have a huge impact on the outcome of a plane mishap. Yet in this case, it seems likely that even in a balanced co-piloting dynamic, nothing could have helped an unwary pilot predict, prevent, or recover from the engine failure. What do we know about the pilots and the airline? Sabharwal was a true veteran pilot, with over 15,000 career flight hours, nearly half of them piloting the 787. As a younger pilot, Kunder had just 3,400 hours of flight time, but over 1,100 of them were on the 787. It's been widely reported that Sabharwal was planning to retire soon to care for his ailing father, who himself was a career aviation ministry official. In reporting after the crash, he has been universally described by friends and colleagues as extremely kind, gentle, reserved, and soft-spoken. Kunder came from a family of pilots, went to flight school in Florida, and reportedly chose piloting over a career in esports because he loved to fly. Following the crash, the Telegraph quoted a source claiming that Sabharwal had struggled with depression and had taken mental health leave from the company. However, Air India's parent company, the Tata Group, contradicted this, with a spokesperson clarifying to the Telegraph that Sabharwal's last medical leave was a bereavement leave in 2022, and emphasizing that 'the preliminary report did not find anything noteworthy' in his recent medical history. If pilots don't get therapy, they could endanger themselves and others while in the air. But if they do get therapy, the airline could ground them. However, it could be very easy for mental health issues in pilots to go undetected and unreported. That's because the strict scrutiny and restrictions placed upon commercial pilots in the wake of the 2015 Germanwings tragedy — in which a pilot locked his co-pilot out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed the plane, killing everyone on board — creates a dangerous catch-22 for pilots: If they don't get thorough and regular mental health treatment, they could be endangering themselves and others when they're in the air. But if they do get mental health treatment, the airline could ground them, perhaps permanently. For pilots who love flying, it's a major risk assessment: Around 1,100 people have been killed because of plane crashes intentionally caused by pilots since 1982. The tragedy comes at a pivotal moment for both Air India and Boeing, which have each been attempting to rebound from criticism. Air India is one of the oldest and formerly one of the most influential airlines in the world, known for the opulence and exceptional artistic style it cultivated throughout the 20th century. After the company was nationalized in the 1950s, however, its once-sterling reputation significantly backslid, until it was finally re-privatized in 2022 and handed off to the Tata Group. The company's attempts to revitalize the airline have included investing billions in readying the company for an expanded fleet and a reentry into the global market — an expansion that could be jeopardized because of the high-profile nature of the June crash. India's civil aviation minister recently announced that the company has additionally received nine safety notices in the last six months. Meanwhile Boeing continues to face criticism in the face of ongoing safety and maintenance concerns, and recently agreed to pay over $1 billion to avoid criminal prosecution over two plane crashes linked to faulty flight control systems that resulted in the deaths of 346 people. While there's no indication yet that anything about the Air India crash was due to a defect in the plane, the optics won't help the beleaguered airline. Perhaps because the stakes are so high, multiple pilot organizations in India as well as a bevy of media commentators have resisted the preliminary report's implication that one of the pilots caused the crash. The Airline Pilots Association of India as well as the Indian Commercial Pilots Association both released statements criticizing the preliminary report and objecting to any presumption of guilt. Others have suggested an undetected issue with the plane might be at fault, or that the AAIB, which issued the preliminary report, might have something to hide.
Extra.ie
12-07-2025
- General
- Extra.ie
Damning evidence in Air India investigation
A report into the Air India crash that killed 260 passengers and crew last month has shown terrifying evidence of what led to the devastating disaster. Air India flight 'AI 171' was bound for Gatwick in London and had taken off from Ahmadabad airport on June 12th, but crashed seconds after takeoff, in the worst aviation disaster India has ever seen. The preliminary report, due to be published later today, shows the fuel switch to the engines was flipped to 'OFF' seconds after takeoff. The Air India flight AI171 that crashed in Ahmedabad. Pic: EyePress News/REX/Shutterstock This switch is only ever used when an aircraft has come to a complete stop and arrived at its gate, or in the case of a bird strike where an engine would need to be switched off mid flight. The preliminary report found that the fuel switch in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was flipped to 'OFF' some three seconds into the flight, immediately STARVING the engines of fuel. The enormous aircraft instantly lost power, began to lose height and literally fell from the sky killing all but one person on board, as well as a number of people on the ground in Ahmadabad medical college. Firefighters work at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad. Pic: Sam Panthaky/AFP via Getty Images The black box flight recordings have revealed one of the pilots can be heard asking the other WHY he cut off the fuel, while the other pilot responded that he had not done so. However it's not yet clear which remarks were made by the Captain and which by the First Officer, or who it was who called 'Mayday Mayday Mayday' seconds before the fatal crash. The preliminary findings do NOT make clear just HOW the fuel pump switch could have flipped to the 'OFF' position, but aviation experts say these switches cannot just 'move' accidentally, by someone bumping off them, or accidentally touching them. Smoke rises after a plane crash shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in India's western state of Gujarat. Pic: Nandan Dave/Anadolu via Getty Images At this point in the investigation, there are NO recommended actions to Boeing or the engine manufacturers according to the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, the organisation heading up the probe into the disaster. The plane's two black boxes, both combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders, were recovered in the days following the crash, but aviation experts say that most air crashes are caused by 'multiple factors'. India's prime minister Narendra Modi (left) meeting with Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, sole survivor of the Air India flight 171 crash, at a hospital in Ahmedabad. Pic: Narendra Modi Youtube Channel/AFP via Getty Images India's aviation experts have also given Air India a warning for breaching other rules by flying three Airbus aircraft that were overdue safety checks on the escape slides, and there were also worries about 'serious violations' in pilot duty timings. One man survived the deadly Air India crash and walked from the wreckage with minor injuries. Flames can be seen billowing behind Vishwash Kumar Ramesh as he walks from the rubble of the medical college, destroyed when the giant Airbus A380 Dreamliner plunged into the building, killing 260 passengers and crew on board and 29 people on the ground.
Extra.ie
12-06-2025
- General
- Extra.ie
British man Is sole survivor of Air India crash that killed hundreds
One passenger has reportedly survived the horror plane crash that occurred in India on Thursday. Hundreds of people are feared to have been killed after the London-bound plane carrying 242 people, including 53 British nationals, appeared to explode when it crashed just minutes after take-off in Ahmedabad, India. Images of the aftermath of the crash showed parts of the plane embedded into BJ Medical College as firefighters continued to tackle the smoke. Firefighters work at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad. Pic: Sam Panthaky/AFP via Getty Images Pieces of the aircraft's landing gear, fuselage and tail could all be seen protruding from the building. In a fresh development on the tragic incident, it has been reported that a British dad has miraculously survived. 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was allegedly the passenger of seat 11A, said he survived the horror crash of Gatwick-bound Flight 171. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh. Speaking from the Civil Hospital, Asarwa in Ahmedabad, he told Hindustan Times: 'Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly.' It's understood that Mr Ramesh is a UK national who was in India to visit his family. He was returning to the UK along with his brother on Thursday morning. He added: 'When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance, and brought me to the hospital.' 📢 CONFIRMED: One miraculous survivor in the #PlaneCrash, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, Seat 11A 🥳He recalls a loud boom just 30 seconds after takeoff. The plane nosedived. He survived. STOOD UP. WALKED OUT. ~ God has plans 🙏🏼
IOL News
12-06-2025
- General
- IOL News
242 people believed dead after London-bound plane crashes in residential Indian suburb
This handout taken and posted on the X (formerly Twitter) account of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) On June 12, 2025 shows the back of an Air India plane after it crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad. The London-bound Air India flight 171 passenger plane crashed on June 12 in India's western city of Ahmedabad with 242 on board, aviation officials said in what the airline called a "tragic accident". Image: CENTRAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY FORCE (CISF) / AFP) By Sam Panthaky with Peter Martell in New Delhi A London-bound passenger plane crashed Thursday in a residential area of the Indian city of Ahmedabad, with all 242 people on board believed killed. The crash of an Air India plane was the first ever for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to AFP. An AFP journalist saw people recovering bodies and firefighters trying to douse the smouldering wreckage after the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner smashed into a building. "The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after Air India's flight 171 crashed after takeoff. City police commissioner GS Malik told AFP there "appears to be no survivor in the crash". "And since the airplane has fallen on an area which was residential and had some offices, there are more casualties as well," he added. "Our office is near the building where the plane crashed. We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames," said one resident, who declined to be named. Debris is seen at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. The London-bound passenger plane crashed on June 12 in India's western city of Ahmedabad with 242 on board, aviation officials said in what the airline called a "tragic accident". ( Image: Sam PANTHAKY / AFP India's civil aviation authority said there were 242 people aboard, including two pilots and 10 cabin crew. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian on board the flight bound for London Gatwick. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the scenes from the crash were "devastating", in a statement addressing passengers and their families "at this deeply distressing time." The plane issued a mayday call and "crashed immediately after takeoff" outside the airport perimeter, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. Up to 230 passengers and 12 crew are feared dead after Air India Flight AI171 crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad en route to London. Image: Graphic News Ahmedabad, the main city of India's Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people, and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas. "When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames," resident Poonam Patni told AFP. "Many of the bodies were burned," she added. Firefighters carry a victim's body after the Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. The London-bound passenger plane crashed on June 12 in India's western city of Ahmedabad with 242 on board, aviation officials said in what the airline called a "tragic accident" Image: Photo by Sam PANTHAKY / AFP An AFP journalist saw medics using a cart to load bodies into an ambulance, while a charred metal bed frame stood surrounded by burnt wreckage. A photograph published by India's Central Industrial Security Force, a national security agency, showed the back of the plane rammed into a building. The plane came down in an area between Ahmedabad civil hospital and the city's Ghoda Camp neighbourhood. Devastating Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu directed "all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action." "Rescue teams have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site," he added. The airport was shut with all flights "suspended until further notice", the operator said. US planemaker Boeing said it was "working to gather more information" on the incident which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner. Air India ordered 100 more Airbus planes last year after a giant contract in 2023 for 470 aircraft -- 250 Airbus and 220 Boeing. The airline's chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said an emergency centre has been activated and a support team set up for families seeking information. "Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event," he said. India has suffered a series of fatal air crashes, including a 1996 disaster when two jets collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing nearly 350 people.
