Indian investigators are preparing to state in their final report that Air India Flight 171 crashed after one of the pilots turned off the aircraft’s fuel switches in what is described as an “almost certainly” intentional act, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Wednesday, citing sources in western aviation agencies.
According to the newspaper, the anticipated conclusion rests on the absence of any identified technical defect and a re-analysis of cleaned cockpit voice recordings that investigators say clarified which pilot moved the switches.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and the civil aviation ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
260 Killed in Ahmedabad Dreamliner Tragedy
Flight 171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed on June 12 shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, killing 260 people — 241 of the 242 on board and 19 on the ground. The aircraft lost thrust from both engines and plummeted into a medical students’ hostel just 32 seconds after takeoff.
While it remains unclear how explicitly the final report will apportion responsibility, Corriere said the primary focus is on the aircraft’s commander, Sumeet Sabharwal, who died in the crash.
Indian pilots’ associations and Sabharwal’s family have strongly criticised what they describe as a deliberate attempt to assign blame to the cockpit crew. They have called for deeper scrutiny of the aircraft manufacturer, the airline and other systemic factors.
Re-Analysis in Washington, Focus on Audio Evidence
The newspaper reported that Indian investigators travelled to Washington in December to re-examine black box data at the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) laboratories. Particular attention was given to enhanced cockpit audio recordings.
Sources cited by Corriere said the cleaned-up audio made clear which pilot carried out the actions and ruled out the possibility of error.
US experts conducting simulator tests reportedly failed to reproduce a scenario in which both engines shut down due to mechanical failure alone. Human intervention, whether intentional or accidental, was deemed the only plausible explanation, the report said.
Western assessments of flight data reportedly pointed to Sabharwal, who was monitoring the flight while first officer Clive Kunder was at the controls. The engines shut down sequentially, first the left engine, on the captain’s side, then the right. In the final moments, the first officer’s control column was positioned to regain altitude, while the captain’s remained stationary, according to the newspaper.
Political Sensitivities Around Final Report
A preliminary report released a month after the crash confirmed that both engines shut down almost simultaneously after the fuel switches were moved from “run” to “cutoff”. The cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot asking, “Why did you turn off the engines?” with the other replying, “It wasn’t me.” The document did not attribute the statements to either pilot.
Corriere reported that the final conclusions will undergo what sources described as a “political” evaluation and may adopt more cautious language to avoid controversy.
The newspaper also cited sources suggesting that international pressure, including potential reviews of Indian airline safety ratings, may have influenced New Delhi’s evolving stance. “Admitting that it was one of the pilots who knocked down the plane is increasingly considered a sustainable sacrifice,” one source was quoted as saying.
An NTSB spokesperson referred the newspaper back to the Indian AAIB. Indian authorities, including the AAIB, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the civil aviation ministry, did not respond to the publication’s queries.
