Pilot's Actions Under the Spotlight in Air India Flight 171 Crash
Tension is running high in the ongoing probe of Air India Flight 171’s crash, as new U.S. media reports allege the senior pilot cut off fuel to both engines in the disaster’s final moments. Citing cockpit voice recorder materials, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal that Captain Sumeet Sabharwal was heard turning off the fuel supply switches soon after takeoff. According to the same sources, first officer Clive Kunder reacted with obvious shock and panic, reportedly asking the captain about the move, while Sabharwal stayed calm and denied any mistake on his part.
Indian families reeling from the tragedy now find themselves caught between conflicting versions of events. The leaked cockpit recording story stands in sharp contrast to the more cautious tone of India’s official investigation. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has not accused any crew members, nor confirmed any such action by the captain in its initial findings. Instead, the AAIB report simply stated that the fuel switches went from 'RUN' to 'CUT' within seconds of takeoff—but that, intriguingly, the switches were back in the 'RUN' setting when investigators reached the wreck. This detail keeps the door open to other explanations, such as malfunctions or automatic resets.
Debate Over Blame and a Search for Answers
The AAIB has pushed back hard against the U.S. media coverage, labeling the reporting irresponsible and urging everyone to avoid jumping to conclusions while the investigation is still underway. As the pressure mounts, both the Federation of Indian Pilots and the grieving relatives of passengers are left deeply frustrated, but for different reasons: pilots’ groups are furious over what they call 'baseless' accusations and have threatened legal action, while the families demand more transparency and detail from crash investigators.
Experts familiar with aviation disasters urge caution as well. Mary Schiavo, a former chair of a prominent U.S. aviation agency, points to well-known cases where aircraft systems—rather than human error—were responsible for catastrophic, inexplicable changes mid-flight. She highlighted a 2019 incident with a Boeing 787, where a hidden software glitch caused the engines to fail without any action by the flight crew. That case spurred calls for deeper looks at how new aircraft technology could act in unexpected ways.
For now, major stakeholders like Boeing, GE Aerospace, and the FAA have held back from issuing any safety advisories or warnings tied to the Air India crash. That’s led some observers to wonder if mechanical or software problems haven’t been ruled out at all, underscoring how complex these investigations can become. The crash marks the first fatal event involving the 787 Dreamliner since the model’s launch in 2011—a fact drawing even more attention to what will ultimately emerge from the probe.
The debate over the events in Flight 171’s cockpit shows no sign of cooling, with all sides demanding answers but remaining wary of pointing fingers before all the facts are laid out.