Air India crash report confirms fuel was cut off before accident

Preliminary findings cite apparent pilot confusion over fuel-control switches being turned off.

Andrew Tangel

The tail of Air India Flight 171, which crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad, India, in June. Picture: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images

3 min read

9:04AMJuly 12, 2025.

Updated 9:28AMJuly 12, 2025

Dow Jones

Indian authorities confirmed that fuel-control switches on an Air India flight that crashed in June had been turned off shortly after takeoff, but said they had been turned back on before impact.

In a preliminary report released Friday, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said both switches that control the flow of fuel to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s two engines were switched off once the aircraft reached a speed of 180 knots, just seconds after lifting off the ground.

The report said the switches went from “run” to “cutoff” one after another, with a second’s time in between. The move cut the engine’s fuel supply.

There was also apparent confusion about the situation between pilots in the cockpit.

“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff,” the report said. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so.” About 10 seconds later, both fuel-cutoff switches were turned back on. But the engines couldn’t apparently fully restart and regain thrust fast enough.

“If they would have had another few hundred feet of altitude or another 20 seconds of time, those engines would have relit, began to produce thrust and they could have not impacted the ground,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a former US senior accident investigator. “But they just didn’t have enough time or altitude to recover.”

Another approximately 10 seconds passed, and one of the pilots called out on the radio: “Mayday mayday mayday.”

Air-traffic controllers reached out but didn’t get a response and saw the plane crash nearby.

UGC video footage shows smoke rising from a residential area after the crash. Picture: Vijay Patani / AFP

Rescue officials work at the crash site. Picture: Sam Panthaky / AFP

The report said the fuel-control switches were found in the “run,” or on position, in the crash wreckage.

The AAIB’s preliminary report didn’t reach any final conclusions about what factors led to the accident, or why the fuel switches might have been turned off. It left unanswered whether an accident or intentional act led to the switch movement.

The crash of the London-bound jet killed all but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board, as well as several people on the ground where the plane slammed into a residential area beyond the airport in Ahmedabad.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that preliminary findings from the Indian-led probe indicated the fuel switches had been turned off at some point before the crash.

It said there aren’t any recommendations for Boeing, engine-maker GE Aerospace or operators of the aircraft at this stage of the investigation.

The US Federal Aviation Administration, which certified the Dreamliner’s design as safe for passenger service, said it was “committed to promptly addressing any risks identified throughout the process.”

US pilots who fly the 787 said the fuel-control switches would be difficult to move by accident. Pilots use the switches to start engines, shut them down or quickly restart them in certain emergencies.

“They have a guard that protects them physically and then each switch itself has a mechanical mechanism where you don’t just flick it, you have to kind of pull it up and then flick it,” Guzzetti said. “These switches are designed not to be able to be moved easily.”

A funeral ceremony for a victim of the crash. Picture: Vishma Ahanthem/AFP/Getty Images

But the report raises the possibility of a potential issue with a locking feature for fuel-control switches, though its connection to the accident investigation wasn’t immediately clear.

The report notes that the FAA in 2018 issued a bulletin about “potential disengagement” of such features on 737s, a different and smaller model of Boeing airplanes.

The report said the locking mechanism was similar on various Boeing models, including certain 787s.

The report said Air India didn’t inspect its planes’ switches because the FAA advisory wasn’t mandatory. It also said the accident aircraft’s throttle control module had twice been replaced for reasons unrelated to the fuel-control switch.

Indian authorities said they had tested fuel samples, examined crash-site wreckage and were analysing data from the plane’s black boxes.

An Air India spokesman said the airline was fully co-operating with authorities investigating the June 12 accident but declined to comment on details in the report.

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