The Mystery of Air India Flight AI171: What Caused the Disaster?

One year has passed since Air India Flight AI171 went down. It happened right after takeoff from Ahmedabad, taking 260 lives with it. But one question just keeps hanging there. What actually caused this disaster?

The plane involved was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner . It was supposed to head to London, Gatwick Airport, on June 12, 2025. Instead, it crashed thirty-two seconds after leaving the ground. That’s fast. And that’s what makes the investigation so frustrating. They know what happened in the cockpit right before impact. But why did it happen? That’s the sticking point.

We’re still waiting for the final report. It feels like a massive delay.

The initial findings, coming from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, or AAIB, came out in July 2025. That was the first concrete piece of information they had.

Investigators found something specific about the cockpit controls. Both fuel control switches moved from “RUN” to “CUTOFF.” This happened in just a few seconds after the plane started moving. It cut the fuel supply to both engines immediately. Thrust vanished almost instantly. The aircraft rapidly lost altitude before it hit those buildings near Ahmedabad airport.

Then they tried to fix it. The switches were put back to “RUN.” Pilots tried to restart the engines. But there just wasn't enough time, not enough altitude, for anything to work. The plane was gone.

But here’s where things get messy. Did someone actually move those switches? That remains the biggest ghost in the machine of this whole case.

Some think it was intentional. Theory one is that a pilot deliberately cut off the fuel. This theory gets attention because there’s audio from the cockpit, a voice recording capturing an exchange between the pilots. One pilot asks something like, “Why did you cut off (the fuel)?” The other responds, “I did not do so.” That moment, captured on the recorder, felt incredibly chilling.

The flight crew involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder. Sabharwal was a veteran; over 15,600 hours flying time, including thousands on the 787. Kunder had logged more than 3,400 hours since joining Air India in 2017. Both were fully qualified pilots.

Still, you have to consider the mechanics of the cockpit itself. Those switches aren't just loose levers. They have a locking mechanism. They are designed specifically to stop accidental activation during flight. Moving both simultaneously usually implies a deliberate action.

But that doesn't close the door on other possibilities.

Theory two comes up then: pilot error. Could it have been an accident? Maybe confusion, maybe some kind of critical sequence of errors under extreme stress. Some experts argue that even if the physical design makes accidental movement unlikely, strange cockpit conditions or a series of mistakes during a crucial phase of flight can’t be entirely ruled out yet.

Pilot associations are pushing back hard on this idea. They feel investigators are rushing to blame the crew before looking at everything else. The Federation of Indian Pilots and others are demanding that every technical explanation be exhausted first. They want independent experts brought in before any final conclusion is drawn.

The FIP president, Captain CS Randhawa, made some strong claims recently. He pointed out gaps in the preliminary report. He suggested things like stabilizer problems when the plane arrived from Delhi, and motor replacements done before it was fully checked. He also talked about electrical issues affecting systems, like the air conditioning. He questioned the timing reported by the AAIB itself.

Randhawa even touched on the cockpit voice recorder. He argued that what the Western media focused on seemed to suggest deliberate action, but he stressed that the recording only covered two seconds.

And then there’s theory three. The technical side. What if it wasn't human hands involved in that specific moment? Could it be a software glitch? An electronic malfunction somewhere deep inside the systems? Or maybe some hidden defect in the Boeing design or the GE engines themselves triggered this movement or gave completely wrong readings to the pilots.

Investigators haven’t found any smoking gun proving a flaw in the 787 structure or the engines caused the crash. Neither India’s DGCA nor US regulators have grounded that aircraft type because of it. But they are still digging. That's why the final report is so delayed now. They need to examine those engine parts, those systems line by line.

It just keeps circling back to that core issue: who or what moved those switches? Was it a choice? A mistake? Or something entirely outside of human control?

For the families waiting the victims and their loved ones answers feel like nothing. Compensation doesn't fix the gaping hole left by this disaster. The lone survivor, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, and other relatives keep demanding clarity. They want to know exactly why both engines lost fuel right after takeoff. They want assurance that this kind of nightmare won’t happen again.

They are looking for a definitive explanation. And until the final report drops, all we have is that central mystery: intentional move, accidental movement, or some hidden mechanical failure that nobody quite understands yet. The truth remains out of reach.