Early findings into the Air India Flight 171 crash that killed 260 people reveal both fuel-control switches on the Boeing 787 were inexplicably flipped to “cut-off” seconds after take-off, starving the engines of fuel.
The cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot questioning the other over the action, though it remains unclear who moved the switches or why.
One engine began restarting before the plane crashed into a residential area in Ahmedabad. Investigators say accidental activation is unlikely due to the switches’ complex safety mechanism, sparking concern over potential human error or a deeper technical issue.
Authorities are also scrutinising past advisories about possible defects in fuel control switches, though some experts doubt their relevance.
There’s speculation the switches may have been tripped electronically or that a malfunction in the aircraft’s electronic systems played a role.
The crash happened so rapidly that pilots had little time to respond, and investigators are calling for cockpit video recorders to better trace actions.
Meanwhile, mechanical failure and fuel contamination have been largely ruled out, and the focus remains on voice identification and the possibility of intentional or unintended human intervention.
🚨🇮🇳#BREAKING | NEWS ⚠️ apparently the fuel cut off switches were flipped “from run to cutoff “just after takeoff starving the engines of fuel causing the Air India plane to crash 1 pilot can be heard asking the other” why he shut off the fuel” WSJ report pic.twitter.com/XZp5DHzRnb
— Todd Paron🇺🇸🇬🇷🎧👽 (@tparon) July 11, 2025
A death wish executed… ?