Ondopress
Australian aviation expert Captain Byron Bailey has given his analysis on the Air India plane crash, claiming the latest findings indicate the captain must have intentionally turned off the fuel control switches.
On June 12, 2025, Air India Flight 171, carrying 242 passengers and crew members, crashed into a building in the city of Ahmedabad just moments after take-off. Only one person on the plane survived.
An additinal 19 people on the ground were killed when the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, crashed in a neighbourhood.
A report into the crash conducted by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau found the plane’s fuel control switches were switched off three seconds after take-off.
The plane then began to lose thrust as fuel was not reaching the engines.
While the switches were turned back on, and power was restored to one engine the plane crashed not long afterwards, according to the findings.
An analysis of black box data suggests pilot-in-command Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, placed the switches into the “cut-off” position, The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing US pilot sources.
The black box voice recording also indicated a back-and-forth unfolded between the two pilots, with first officer Clive Kunder – who was flying the aircraft – questioning the senior pilot’s move.
The revelations have cast a spotlight on the actions of the captain, as aviation experts claim cutting off the fuel supply could not have been done by accident.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Thursday, July 17, about the developments, Captain Bailey was of the view the pilot-in-command made a conscious move to flick off the fuel switches.
“To us aviation people … we believe straight away that the only way this could have happened is if the captain turned off the fuel control switches,” he told Sky News
“The first one, which is right by his right hand, three seconds up and lift off – and the second one, one second later.”
“They’re mechanical, they’re not worked by electricity and they require absolute physical effort to lift the switch up. So it had to be done by one of the pilots