The tragic crash of Air India Flight 171 on June 12, 2025, which claimed 260 lives, continues to be a focus of intense investigation and emotional turmoil inside the aviation trade. Regardless of preliminary reviews highlighting gas management change manipulation as a essential issue, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) have expressed sturdy confidence that no mechanical malfunction or inadvertent motion of those switches brought about the catastrophe.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford spoke on the Oshkosh Air Present in Wisconsin on July 24, 2025, addressing the swirling questions across the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s gas management unit. “We will say with a excessive degree of confidence it doesn’t seem like a mechanical problem with the Boeing gas management unit,” Bedford informed reporters, in keeping with Reuters. He additional emphasised, “We really feel very snug that this isn’t a difficulty with inadvertent manipulation of gas management.” His remarks got here after intensive inspections and testing of the gas management switches on lively plane, together with these in Air India’s fleet.
The concentrate on the gas management switches stems from the preliminary report launched earlier in July by India’s Plane Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which revealed that each gas switches had been moved from the “Run” to the “Cutoff” place shortly after takeoff. This motion lower gas provide to the engines, inflicting them to close down mid-climb. The cockpit voice recorder captured a tense alternate between the pilots, with First Officer Clive Kunder questioning Captain Sumeet Sabharwal in regards to the gas cutoff, to which Sabharwal responded he didn’t carry out the motion.
In line with the AAIB report, the switches had been then reversed, and the engines started to come back again on-line, however tragically, the plane crashed right into a medical school campus in Ahmedabad, India, killing all however one of many 242 passengers aboard and 19 individuals on the bottom. The report additionally referenced a 2018 FAA advisory urging airways to examine the locking mechanisms on these gas switches to forestall unintentional motion, a suggestion Air India had not carried out previous to the crash. Nonetheless, subsequent inspections of all Boeing 787s and 777s in Air India’s fleet discovered no points with the locking methods.
The investigation, collectively led by the AAIB and NTSB, has not concluded the reason for the switches’ motion, leaving open the query of whether or not it was handbook or as a result of another issue. Aviation skilled Captain Kishore Chinta, a former air accident investigator, has publicly questioned the timeline and actions taken in the course of the essential 10 seconds after takeoff. He famous inconsistencies within the timestamps recorded, stating, “The timestamps simply do not match up. And if it took one second to place out each the switches shortly, why did it take 4 seconds to place them again on?” He emphasised that every thing vital occurred inside the first 10 seconds of lift-off.
Chinta additionally cautioned in opposition to leaping to conclusions about pilot culpability. “We’re doing gross injustice to the pilots who aren’t there to defend themselves by guestimating and developing with theories that are mere assumptions,” he mentioned throughout an interview with Piers Morgan on his YouTube present, Uncensored. He highlighted that the important thing to the thriller would possibly lie in whether or not the gas switches may very well be moved by any means aside from handbook intervention, a element not clarified within the preliminary report.
Regardless of some hypothesis from web commentators suggesting pilot involvement, many colleagues and buddies of Captain Sabharwal have defended his character, describing him as a “mild soul” and an “ace pilot” with over 8,200 flight hours. Sabharwal had reportedly been scuffling with private grief following the demise of his mom in 2022 and had taken bereavement depart, however was medically cleared to fly earlier than the accident. His friends bear in mind him as humble and safety-conscious, with no prior incidents to his identify.
The psychological affect of the crash on Air India’s flight crew has been profound. Following the incident, sick depart amongst pilots surged dramatically, with 112 pilots—51 commanders and 61 first officers—reporting unfit for obligation on June 16 alone. The crash has deeply shaken morale, significantly amongst these working Boeing 787 plane, with many pilots expressing anxiousness and misery over the unresolved reason behind the accident. Some have voiced considerations over the preliminary report’s suggestion of pilot suicide, a concept they strongly reject.
In response to this disaster, India’s Directorate Basic of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has mandated psychological well being initiatives throughout all Indian carriers, together with Air India and IndiGo. These measures embody fast psychological assessments throughout obligatory medical exams, specialised coaching for flight crews and air visitors controllers to acknowledge and handle psychological well being points, and the activation of Peer Assist Programmes (PSPs). These confidential, non-punitive packages purpose to supply aviation professionals with a protected area to debate stress and anxiousness, a essential step given the high-pressure nature of their work.
FAA officers have additionally taken proactive steps, issuing a continued airworthiness notification on July 11, 2025, to all Boeing operators worldwide, reinforcing the significance of gas change inspections. Air India promptly accomplished these inspections on its Boeing 787 and 777 fleets, discovering no mechanical faults.
The crash stays one of many deadliest aviation disasters in recent times, prompting requires larger transparency and thoroughness within the investigation. Aviation security advocates urge a complete evaluation of all methods earlier than attributing blame, as Ed Pierson, Government Director of the Basis for Aviation Security and a former Boeing worker, informed Piers Morgan, “There’s quite a lot of issues that have to be examined right here, methods sensible, earlier than we once more soar to the conclusion that this was a pilot making a mistake and even deliberately.”
Because the investigation progresses, households of the victims and the aviation group await definitive solutions. The tragedy has not solely highlighted technical and procedural considerations but additionally underscored the human toll on those that function the skies. With each mechanical and human components beneath scrutiny, the ultimate report can be essential in shaping future security protocols and restoring belief within the aviation trade.
