The public is largely skeptical of the investigation's findings, expressing frustration over the preliminary attribution of blame to pilot error. There is a strong belief in potential mechanical or electronic failures and concerns about a cover-up to protect Boeing and Air India. The call for greater transparency, accountability, and improvements in aviation safety protocols is prevalent, alongside protective sentiments towards the involved pilots.

Boeing

Air India

Investigating Authorities

Although this isn’t a 787 setup, the point still stands as the fuel control switches work the same. The designers/engineers make every switch and button with purpose. They make switches that are normal and used frequently very easy to flip. Stuff like fire suppression and fuel control switches they make with detents so they’re not flipped accidentally. Just like the gear system, you have to pull the gear knob out and then up/down to activate it.

__Patrick_Basedman_

This is not a 787 though, but your point still stands and I agree

Aggressive_Let2085

apparently the preliminary incident report shows the fuel cutoff was flipped just after rotation with engine 1 then one second later, engine 2.   it was absolutely deliberate.   The other pilot quickly flipped them back on and attempted a restart but by then it was too late.   

The report also mentions a desire to involve psychiatric people in the investigation:  this sure does look like one of the pilots was a complete asshole and suicided himself along with everyone else.

USSSLostTexter

Bro its crazy how mean people are in THIS subreddit, these comments are crazy😭

Neat-Ad8056

I'm not sure how you accidentally turn the fuel off to both engines on takeoff.

grifinmill

Erico360

Those aren’t 787 switches.  The 787 switches are at least 3x bigger than that.  They’re actually more like knobs than typical switches.

Miserable-Lawyer-233

A lot of people are postulating this could be a brain fart or “muscle memory”.

The FO was flying and just lifting off. He’s at his most distracted and isn’t going to reach down and flip off both fuel switches.

The Captain has decades of experience, and many hours in this aircraft type. One of his main jobs would be wheels up - which he doesn’t do and doesn’t even do when they realize they are in trouble (reduce drag or avoid rooftops etc). He doesn’t touch the handle.

So he systematically (and quickly) turns off the fuel switches, at the worst possible moment in time to prevent likelihood of recovery, while the FO is most distracted.

And then - this is the kicker - he’s so lost in this “brain fog” that when the warnings and engine sounds react to the fuel cut off, he doesn’t say a word (like “shit!”) and *immediately* turn them back on. They are off for ten seconds.

And if the FO had turned them off by mistake, would this extremely experienced Captain have ignored that and gone back to reading his magazine? Or would he have immediately turned them back on? 

Not until the FO asks “why did you cut off?” does he react at all, and even then it’s to deny it. Not “oh my God” or any sort of indication he realizes he made a devastating mistake. 

So while the FO is desperately trying to save the plane at the controls, running on RAT power, are both switches turned on quickly? No. They are turned on four seconds apart. Suggesting the poor FO is the one doing it while also trying to prevent the crash. 

The report doesn’t say who did what. But does the above make more sense than someone in this cockpit doing an “oopsie?”.

Relevant_Fuel_9905

Definitely not an accident, but could have been an unconscious mix-up in procedures (fuel cutoff vs. landing gear retraction). We’ll likely never know the full truth, even with thorough investigations into both pilots. That being said, the full CVR transcript would be helpful. I would anticipate: 

“Positive rate.” “Gear up”. (Sound of two clicks) (sound of Master Caution) (sound of engines spooling down) “Why did you cutoff?” “I didn’t” (sound of two clicks) 

Again, could be a deliberate action, knowing that there is no suitable landing spot of the departure end of the runway, but could be a procedural mix-up.

ltshiroamada

What if there’s a fault in the circuits so the switches never moved but the circuit activated and thus it appears in the logs? Is that even possible? Like liquid or something closing the circuit

FedesMP

What is that a 787 for ants? It’s even harder in the real 787/777. Big solid switches with a heavy duty spring.

Insaneclown271

Welp, it seems we are yet again against another case of pilot suicide

RedFlr

Just thinking as a layman, why would there not be an alarm if this happened?

swalker6622

Desperate_Set_7708

Not a 787 - and it’s important because the 787 has additional metal triangular guards on either side precisely as extra measures to avoid accidental contact with them in addition to the lock and detent

Swisskommando

BodybuilderSalt9807

They said fuel was cut not engine cut, unless Im missing something.

Simple-Sun2608

I would say that it's highly unlikely but not impossible to switch those off by mistake. People do dumb things sometimes, because they're distracted; because they're tired; because they're stressed. See TransAsia flight 235. There, the pilots responded to a failure of the number one engine by shutting down the number two engine. That required some combination of pulling levers and flipping switches, each of which was boneheaded. Different scenario of course, but the point is that people, pilots included, sometimes accidentally do really stupid stuff. Ask any SIM instructor and he or she will tell you some stories...

Which-Addition-267

Why should engine cutoff even work mid-flight?

skillrat

It's not impossible to do this by mistake. It's impossible to accidentally hit them and make them move. But a human being acting on muscle memory could easily switch these if confused or not thinking straight. These are far too easily switched with one hand and too close to main controls. They should have a gate, or a second switch, or be in an awkward place so as not to be accessed so easily.

DifferentTrain2113

Same switches on my 1987 John Deere garden tractor for the 2 ptos

One-War4920

Since the incident i think 67 m8llon of people learned how fuel swithes on Boeing 787 works ...next ,flaperones !

Khischnaya_Ptitsa

In the initial accident report that was released to the public they found the wreckage of the throttle quadrant the fuel CUT-OFF switches where in the RUN option although later in the report EAFR reported that they where transitioned from RUN to CUT-OFF from both engines where there was exactly 1 sec between both engines transition then they transitioned back from CUT-OFF to RUN.



I ain’t no expert buuutttt

Smooth_Rub7884

So in other words the crash was intentional? 😳

LooseRaccoon85

MD-80-87

Zealousideal_Order_8

The narrative of this tragic crash seems to be getting even more grim.

lewisfairchild

CPG135

Why don't they get a pop up message? "Are you sure you want to unsubscribe from 'fuel' marketing emails?"

jared_number_two

I said it on day one… the flaps were right.. the take off speed was good.. and then POOF..

Both engines cut off… everyone was blaming to aircraft 

I had said that I would not be surprised to find out the cut off switch(s) were thrown .. IT WAS A DELIBERATE ACTION.. 

We will hear more shortly about this and of the pilots

Beneficial_Being_721

We get it
....... It's been posted 1,000 times. However, this is not the same aircraft. Similar function, totally different aircraft.

Kooky_Aardvark_5965

maybe the board computer should say loud and clear and for three times "engine left/right fuel supply turned off" so it wont go unnoticed

AustriaModerator

AlternativeEdge2725

My understanding is that Honeywell did not originally install detent on those switches. Boeing later advised it be done but Air India, and that plane, did not add detent because it was not required. So this is not how they worked in that particular plane unlike those in American fleets.

Edit: Please disregard. This comment was based on comments made to me by a pilot who stated this info was in the preliminary report.

DanishWhoreHens

Now this will be the military side of me, I realize this is not the same model, but do civilian planes have red guarded switches, I understand the toggle, but military planes have a toggle and a red guarded switch

xen137

It's not literally impossible. They put out a safety bulletin THEMSELVES about the possibility of this switch not fully locking in and becoming dislodged. It was deemed not a risk but perhaps we now have additional investigative data to revisit this issue.

Coreyporter87

When is it my turn to post a video like this? Do I have to take a number

Ok-Refrigerator-9278

Thanks..... I read a description of these switches, but seeing them really adds clarity

zonesaplenty

So was this an intentional act by someone in the cockpit?

highroller886

I'm not a nervous flyer, but whenever I do get a little jitters I remind myself that there's two people flying the thing and their will to live will always mean that they would do everything possible to keep themselves and all of us safe. 

If it's true, what we're all guessing happened, I hope whichever person pulled those switches experiences an eternal hell. I don't even believe in the afterlife in that way, but I hope it's true in this case, if one if them really shut down the engines.

Better-Chest-3414

I did not read the entire post, forgive if it's already been covered, but how close are those switches to the gear switches, which looked to me like they should already have been retracted. Don't they pull them up very shortly after lift off?

Zigzag0333

In India people are spinning off so many conspiracy theories rather than accept the facts of the investigation because apparently an Indian pilot won’t conduct things 

Some are even blaming the CIA, etc 

Some call it Boeing vs India 

All because of hyper nationalism

Brown-Rocket69

Pale_Natural9272

Has anyone said it was a mistake? Clearly all these videos prove is that it was shut off intentionally.

Apprehensive_Ear7309

Why is this fuel cutoff switch needed at such a convenient location on a plane? I mean my car engine needs to be turned on and off from time to time but I don't need the ability to cut off fuel.

sdnomlA

Dumb question: why would there be an option to fuel shutoff when the plane is in motion?

Debt-Cheap

Ok, so is there a way for them to sit in the on position without quite clicking into place?

In this video they lift up and slide from bottom to top, can someone replicate this and see if they will sit close to the top without actually clicking into place or automatically falling back into the off position?

What I’m thinking looking at this action is though human error is they weren’t quite slid all the way up and clicked into the on position then vibrated back into off 3 seconds into take off.

SonicYOUTH79

But you got to do it during the take off though

res0jyyt1

There have been cases of pilots intentionally ceashing planes in the past, people are speculating that this may be a case of that which is very disturbing. I do not think there was any mechanical or electrical failures in this case. Just so sad for the families of the victims and even more disturbing that this was potentially caused by a mental health issue.

Least-Complaint-6566

ByebyeParachute

Tricky-Awareness7909

The one thing that needs to be considered is pilot fatigue. When you are exhausted your brain can can misfire on tasks that have been executed hundreds of times. The pilot could have very well thought he was raising the gear when he was cutting the fuel. He may have been the one who cut the fuel when they had landed at the airport. That may be why he claimed he didn’t cut the fuel. He may have thought he was raising the gear.

outlier74

rkba260

There doesn't appear to be a way to link directly to it, but go to ASRS (https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/search/database.html) and read ACN 1610428.

Here's an excerpt: (Note that the ZZZ business is their redactions, not mine, I think NASA has the unredacted info but is legally forbidden from sharing it with the general public.)



Time / Day

Date : 201901  
Local Time Of Day : 0601-1200  


Place

Locale Reference.ATC Facility : ZZZZ.ARTCC  
State Reference : FO  
Altitude.MSL.Single Value : 41000  


Environment

Flight Conditions : VMC  


Aircraft : 1

Reference : X  
ATC / [Advisory.Center](http://Advisory.Center) : ZZZZ  
Aircraft Operator : Air Carrier  
Make Model Name : B787 Dreamliner Undifferentiated or Other Model  
Crew Size.Number Of Crew : 3  
Operating Under FAR Part : Part 121  
Flight Plan : IFR  
Mission : Passenger  
Flight Phase : Cruise

Narrative: 1

\[En route\] I reached up for the flight plan, which was resting on the glare shield. We were using the heavy Boeing gray clipboard to hold the flight plan, and as I picked it up it off the glare shield it slipped out of my hand, falling and striking the Right Engine Fuel Control Switch, knocking it into the CUTOFF position. The Captain (PF \[Pilot Flying\]) executed the Engine out drift down procedure with me backing him up, descending and offsetting 15 nm right of course, and after the aircraft was established he handed control of the aircraft off to me while he looked up and executed the Engine Fail R checklist. We also woke up the FO (First Officer), who was on his break, requesting he come to the cockpit.  
  
We stabilized at FL310, knew exactly what had happened, and after discussing it together, followed the checklist by returning the FCS (Fuel Control Switch) to RUN, and the engine restarted. We discussed the situation with Dispatch, \[Operations Management\], and the FO (who had returned to the flight deck by this time and was occupying the center jumpseat) and all agreed that we could safely continue the flight to ZZZZ, which we did after coordinating with ATC and \[Operations Management.\]  
  
We did not declare an emergency as we were too busy running the checklist and backing each other up, by the time we thought to we had already restarted the engine and stabilized the aircraft.

dougmcclean

Thanks for this video. I was wondering how easy it was to screw this up.

joeyjoejums

My very uneducated opinion is that the plane was overweight and that, coupled with the heat, was too much.

ArchieThomas72

Didn't the report say the locking mechanism wasn't functional and wasn't considered required?

akraut

A question, why does the preliminary report mention the air worthiness directive about fuel cutt-off switches where the safety guard is disengaged? Does that mean on this specific aircraft they had these faulty switches?

Daminica

Even with all the engineering faults considered, the sequence of events is very hard to ignore. 
- both switches failed (assuming mechanical fault, that's an odd event) 
- both failed in sequence, 1 second from another 

What baffles me more is the attempt to reignite the engines and the surrounding circumstances.
Did the other pilot turn them on? 
Did the pilot who did turn them off, tried to recover after being called out? 
Did the pilot have a last minute change of heart? 
Why not nose down after take off if the intention was to intentionally crash? 

It's a morbid topic, now even so with the current details coming to light. :(

siddsm

Lol every pilot fiddling with those switches this week eh

Playing with fire

Flimsy_Meal_4199

was this demonstration performed mid-flight?

mothisname

Why does it take so long to regain thrust after such a short loss of fuel? I assume the engines are still spooling and hot, so re-ignition would be quick?

whateveryousay0121

Steels_40

There is an advisory out that some Boeings have those switches installed without the little metal bits stopping them.

sarc-tastic

Why are you not posting the right plane. The switches on the 787 are lower and have side protections too

TedBob99

Plot twist: OP's plane crashes while making this video.

jockel37

When do the switches get turned on?  I’m assuming as soon as everyone boards?

Naughtybuttons

Would the black box be able to identify if the cut offs were done so manually or electronically ?

canadianmountie

Because in India we cannot have mental health issues. It’s a western import. 

Hence, Boeing is the culprit 

/s

veryspicypickle

Really surprised there is no information display in front of pilot showing certain things are off /on. Even cars have indicator light on in the instrument display when indicators are turned on.

Prime_Time_63735

What I want to know is would pulling these instantly flame out the engines and would returning them restart them without a full restart cycle? 

I’m guessing they weren’t then turned back on? 

ControlExtension9062

And their absolutely no way they can accidentally be left unlocked during preflight checks and bumped when the throttles are used. And in no way boeing could have moved the off switches just a few inches either way so they can't be bumped at all when using the throttles...

DarthDork73

But the switch activates a PLC input - it's not a mechanical device. The PLC or the software could be at fault.

Smaxter84

What if the metal lock rings are worn? Looking at the switch design, it just has a ring with a protrusion hence why you hen to lift it up before it can be moved.

What if over the years and with the number of activations that profusion no longer has a sharp edge and has worn.

Maybe those investigating can check the condition of the locking rings if they have not been too severely damaged.

iluvnips

 Could anyone imagine a scenario where there was a pitch trim runaway or issue and the pilot/co had a brain fade and flipped the fuel switches instead? Yes I know they have different safeties and there would be conversation, but just a tiny chance?

Antique_Second_5574

Not exactly fool proof then.
Not exactly impossible knock downwards as it pulls towards you.
Especially after the wear n tear of time.

Electrical-Rush-3538

So making a his video caused the crash :)

real_yggdrasil

I can’t imagine how harrowing it is to have the job of listening back to the black box tapes.

corickle

Pilot psychologists have been brought in for several investigations. There have been, over the decades, multiple occasions of human error crashes that simply shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. Most of the time, they find issues with operational culture and other systemic problems that raise the work load of the pilots, which leads to mistakes. 

The biggest items of note have been the implementation of Crew Resource Management (CRM). This is a series of rules and procedures for emergencies that clearly defines who is making decisions, who is executing those decisions, and who needs to be out of the way. CRM was introduced (I’m typing this from memory so forgive me) after a plane went down while both pilots and the engineer were trying to reinsert a lightbulb into the landing gear instrument panel, after they had extracted it to see if it was burned out, or if there were really a problem. The simple failure of not having one of the three qualified pilots FLYING THE PLANE cost the lives of everyone on board. 

Anyway, there will be several notes about the psychologists’ findings in the final report. 

Here’s a YouTube short I found quickly:
[Pilot Psychologists](https://youtu.be/H3w0o6Y2Rx4?si=X3pceYpDmWyxQjJs)

Savings-One-3882

At this point the black box should do video recording of multiple angles of the cockpit.

CreativemanualLens

it's my understanding those two switches need to be pulled up first before moved. I don't see how that can happen accidentally.

BauerHouse

Fun fact: if you are a pilot and go to the therapy or tell anyone you have some mental problems, you are no longer a pilot. What could go wrong?

cyrkielNT

What’s crazy is an experienced pilot on the BBC was saying these fuel cutoff switches couldn’t be accidentally put into the cutoff position. Because they have to be pulled out to be moved to cutoff.

So somebody deliberately caused this crash? Maybe like MH370 is suspected?

They also have audio from the black box of one pilot asking the other if he moved these switches to cutoff position minutes before the crash. Like there was confusion in the cockpit.

So, possibly one of the pilots did this on purpose, like suicide/homicide?

NetFu

What are the odds that this was intentional?It sure doesn’t look like a “mistake “

Intelligent_Sun2837

[Source](https://aaib.gov.in/What's%20New%20Assets/Preliminary%20Report%20VT-ANB.pdf)

On 12 June 2025, Air India flight AI-171 (Boeing 787-8, VT-ANB) crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad en route to London Gatwick, killing 241 of 242 people onboard and 19 on the ground. According to the AAIB preliminary report, the aircraft lost all engine thrust just seconds after liftoff when both **fuel control switches were inexplicably moved from RUN to CUTOFF**, shutting down both engines. The switches were returned to RUN within 12 seconds, and one engine showed partial recovery, but the aircraft lacked sufficient altitude and speed to remain airborne, crashing less than a minute after takeoff. Cockpit voice recordings revealed confusion in the flight deck, with the **pilot monitoring (captain)** asking, *“Why did you cut off the fuel supply?”* and the **pilot flying (first officer)** replying, *“I did not do so.”* This suggests neither pilot intentionally shut off the engines. No evidence of fuel contamination, bird strike, or weight imbalance was found. Investigators are focusing on whether the shutdown was due to human error, accidental activation, or a mechanical/electronic fault—especially since past FAA advisories warned about faulty locking mechanisms on such switches and possible ECU (Engine Control Unit) malfunctions. This tragedy marks the deadliest crash of a Boeing 787 and its first ever fatal hull loss.

not_a_profession

It doesn't seem likely that the switches could have been flipped by accident, which suggests it was an error by the copilot, as has been speculated all along.

Decent_Cow

Can the switches move to cutoff postions automatically because of some mechanical failure?

agent_p_

Why are so many people here ignoring the fact that one pilot literally said "Why did you cut off fuel?". Literally everything in the findings indicate that the fuel was cut off deliberately.

Jimbosl3cer

This was intentional. Probably will never know if it was the pilot or first officer that did it...

First_Association692

Involuntary impulsive decision, or I’ll say it murder. Let’s get real.

PieceChoice

GloomyNectarine2

This is the size of a chewing gum, why can't they design the black box to store video on it from external and internal cameras?

https://preview.redd.it/cw5u8zfxvncf1.png?width=698&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=c8b061253751e46e1e88a1f668d3172e71471b64

Samy_789

From Black Box

Pilot 1 : why did you cut the fuel supply

Pilot 2 : No, I didn't

I hope no one blame pilots for it unless whole truth is out

DemonZiggy

look for [Captain Steeeve](https://www.youtube.com/@CaptainSteeeve) youtube channel. He explains pretty well the situation

7orly7

It could be pilot error, we will know for sure once the full report is out.  
  
Meanwhile for those who are saying that it is impossible for the switches to go into that position, they should read the mentioned **SAIB: NM-18-33** report which is mentioned on the preliminary report, regarding the condition of the switches.

https://preview.redd.it/1yatv1srhocf1.png?width=864&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=b7b6db95f3440013300155274b0076848b5ce456

AI is not known for doing timely maintenance or upkeep of their aircrafts.  
  
Even now, a significant portion of the other aircrafts they have on air is a potential danger waiting to happen.

Pilot error combined with a component failure could be possible as well.

That correlation just feels too convenient.

Edit : Typo

EnchantedElectron

Woke up to find R/aviation is talking about how fuel pump switches can't be accidentally turned off. This would explain why.

Slugbit


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I was waiting for this - some awesome Redditor who’s a pilot and knows tons more than I ever will showing me exactly what the fuel cutoff switch disengagement looks like. Thanks!

marlinspike

I loathe this sub for all the armchair pilots sitting here but here's my view as an actual pilot who flies commercially.

These switches cannot be moved accidentally, they are similar to the master switches we have on the a320.

They need to be lifted and then pulled back, this has it be done deliberately.

TraditionExpensive56

Post a tragic plane crash, investigations reveal issues with Boeing fuel switches, prompting international aircraft inspections.

Air India Plane Crash Investigation and Boeing Fuel Switch Checks

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