Air India tragedy: Did pilot deliberately crash flight 171?

Dubai: The crash of Air India Flight 171, which killed 260 people last month, may have been the result of deliberate human intervention rather than mechanical failure, a leading aviation safety expert has claimed — raising, for the first time, the possibility of a pilot-induced crash.

In an interview with NDTV, Captain Mohan Ranganathan, one of India’s most respected aviation safety analysts and a former member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC), said cockpit evidence and fuel switch positions point to intentional action.

“It has to be manually done,” he said of the fuel cutoff, adding that the switches on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner are physically locked in place and cannot be accidentally toggled or affected by turbulence or power issues.

According to India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), both fuel control switches — which manage fuel flow to the engines — were moved from “RUN” to “CUTOFF” within a second of each other, shortly after the aircraft achieved takeoff speed. The jet then lost thrust and slammed into a medical hostel just over a nautical mile from the runway.

Only one person, a British passenger seated in 11A, survived the crash.

'Why did you do it?'

Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 bound for London Gatwick, lifted off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 13:39 IST on June 12. Within 32 seconds, both engines lost power, and the aircraft nose-dived into the ground, killing all 241 on board and 19 on the ground.

Audio recovered from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) captured a chilling exchange in the final moments:

One pilot asked the other, “Why did you do it?”

The other responded, “I did not do it.”

Captain Ranganathan, referencing the CVR and aircraft configuration, noted that the pilot flying (First Officer Clive Kunder) would have had both hands on the control column during takeoff, making it highly unlikely he could have operated the fuel switches.

“The pilot monitoring (Captain Sumeet Sabharwal) would have had free hands. That is a crucial point,” he said. “The fuel cutoff switches are not touch-sensitive. You have to deliberately pull and move them. Inadvertent activation is virtually impossible.”

• FAA advisory on fuel switch locking

• On December 17, 2018, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) No. NM-18-33, warning of a potential issue with the fuel control switch locking mechanism on Boeing aircraft.

• The bulletin followed reports from operators of Boeing 737s that some fuel control switches had been installed with their locking features disengaged. While the issue was noted, the FAA did not classify it as a safety threat, and no Airworthiness Directive (AD) was issued.

• The same fuel switch design, including the locking mechanism, is used in multiple Boeing models — including part number 4TL837-3D, which is installed on Air India’s Boeing 787-8 (VT-ANB).

• According to Air India, the recommended inspections were not carried out, since the SAIB was advisory in nature and not mandatory. Maintenance records show that the throttle control module on VT-ANB was replaced in 2019 and 2023, but neither replacement was linked to any fuel control switch issue.

• No defects related to the fuel control switches have been reported since 2023.

Medical history, missed warnings?

Ranganathan also raised questions about mental health oversight in Indian aviation, citing reports from serving Air India pilots that one of the cockpit crew had a known medical condition and had been on extended medical leave prior to the crash.

“Several line pilots were aware of this. If senior management didn’t know, that’s even more concerning,” he said.

The AAIB report confirms both pilots were medically cleared and had passed annual checks, but Ranganathan insisted that routine certifications are insufficient, and deeper psychological evaluations should be standard.

A pattern in aviation history

While emphasizing that the investigation must be thorough and unbiased, Ranganathan pointed to a pattern of pilot-induced crashes in global aviation history:

• Germanwings Flight 9525 (2015): Co-pilot deliberately crashed into the French Alps, killing 150.

• SilkAir Flight 185 (1997): Ruled a pilot suicide by the US NTSB.

• EgyptAir Flight 990 (1999): Suspected deliberate action by co-pilot.

• China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 (2022): Another suspected suicide crash.

• Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 (2014): Still missing, but widely believed to have been deliberately diverted.

“This isn’t speculation,” Ranganathan said. “I testified in the SilkAir case. These events follow recognizable patterns. Stress, depression, and fatigue — when left unaddressed — can result in tragedy.”

• Who is Ranganathan?

• Captain Mohan Ranganathan is one of India’s foremost aviation safety experts, with over 25 years of experience as a commercial pilot. A former member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC) under India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, he has been a vocal advocate for stricter safety oversight, mental health screening of pilots, and regulatory reform.

• He has contributed to investigations of high-profile air crashes and has previously given testimony in international inquiries, including the SilkAir Flight 185 case in Singapore. Known for his fearless critiques of India’s aviation practices, Captain Ranganathan continues to serve as an independent voice in aviation safety, frequently consulted by both media and policymakers.

Regulatory blind spots

He didn’t spare the airline industry or India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), accusing both of ignoring long-standing warnings on pilot fatigue and mental health.

“Pilots in India are stretched to the limit. No time with family. No psychological profiling. They’re treated like machines,” he said. “Neither the airlines nor the regulator fully appreciate what fatigue and stress can do to the human mind.”

He warned that unless mental health checks are normalized in pilot evaluations, India risks further disasters.

“This isn’t just about this crash. It’s about how we treat those we entrust with hundreds of lives every day.”

A call for deeper inquiry

India’s AAIB has yet to reach a final conclusion, and Boeing has not been faulted. The company said it “stands ready to support the investigation.” The preliminary report, however, has already raised major concerns by noting that no mechanical failure could have caused the simultaneous fuel cutoff.

As the final report nears, Captain Ranganathan’s comments have stirred a wider conversation: Was this a tragic anomaly, or the culmination of systemic failures in oversight, culture and mental health management in aviation?