The information about the Air India tragedy which crashed shortly after takeoff continues to be updated more than half a year after it happened. And now the eye was on the pilot.
On June 12, 2025, an Indian airline Boeing 787 bound for London crashed into a medical college just 32 seconds after takeoff. 241 passengers and 19 people on the ground died. Solo one survived.
India’s Air Accident Investigation Office was put in charge of finding out the cause of the tragedy, and worked together with the US National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and the engine manufacturer, GE Aerospace, to elucidate it.
Now, new sources apparently coming from the “western” investigation pointed to the captain, Sumeet Sabharwal.
It was not a human error
According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera“Western sources” suggested that Sabharwal, who was monitoring the plane at the time of the accident sitting to the left of the co-pilot, intentionally shut down the engine. That hypothesis was reached when it was discovered that the left engine shut down before the right.
In the black box you hear that one pilot asks the other: “Why did you turn off the engines?”, and the companion answers: “It wasn’t me.”
In turn, the copilot’s control stick appeared to be in a position that indicated that he was trying to regain altitude, while the captain’s control stick was intact.
Previously, simulations of the plane concluded that it was not possible for the engines to shut down due to a technical failure, leaving human intervention as the only reasonable explanation. Intentional or not. Furthermore, after an analysis of the black boxes in Washington, it was ruled out that it was a human error.
He Courier noted that Indian officials have attempted to thwart the investigation process over the past few months.
The sources cited by the European media assured that the conclusions of the final report will be submitted to a «political» evaluation with the aim of avoiding a national controversy in India, and that it is likely to be shared between June 8 and 12 of this year.
On June 12, 2025, the flight AI171 of Air India took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport, in Ahmedabad (India), heading to London. Just a few seconds after takeoff, the device began to lose altitude and crashed into the BJ Medical College residence complex in a suburb of the city.
Of the total number of people on board – 242, including passengers and crew – 241 died. In addition, at least 19 more people died on the ground, when the plane hit the residential area. Only one person survived the accident.
The authorities immediately launched a massive rescue operation and two days later they had recovered the vast majority of the black boxes to begin the technical investigation.
The preliminary report indicated that the accident may have been caused by the sudden disconnection of fuel supply to both engineswhen the fuel control switches went from the “RUN” to “CUTOFF” position during the climb phase.
