Fuel to the engines of the Gatwick-bound Air India plane that crashed and killed 260 people cut off seconds after the flight took off, a preliminary report has found.
Preliminary findings of the investigation into the crash in Ahmedabad, India, last month indicate that both switches controlling fuel flow to the jet’s two engines were switched off almost simultaneously, three seconds after taking off, starving the engines of fuel.
The preliminary report from India’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau into the loss of Air India flight 171 that was released on Friday does not draw conclusions but has cast attention firmly on the actions of the pilots.
In the cockpit, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he "did the cut-off", the report said. The other pilot responded that he did not do so, the report stated.
It is not specified which voice is which. However, the switch-off led to an apparent loss of thrust for the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which came down some 30 seconds after takeoff, exploding in a fireball.
The switches would normally be on during flight, and it is unclear how or why they were turned off.
One of the engines was able to restart after the switches were moved back into their normal inflight position, but could not reverse the plane's deceleration.
If the switches were off, that could explain why the jet’s emergency-power generator — known as a ram air turbine (RAT) — appears to have activated in the moments before the aircraft plummeted, the report stated.
It is almost impossible to turn the stitches off accidentally, with sources saying the black box analysis has so far been unable to rule out “improper, inadvertent or intentional” action that caused them to be moved from the “RUN” position to “CUTOFF”.
U.S. aviation safety expert John Cox said a pilot would not be able to accidentally move the fuel switches that feed the engines. "You can't bump them and they move," he said.
Sumeet Sabharwal and his co-pilot Clive Kundar cried “mayday” as they lost altitude moments after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport on June 12.
The pair had nearly 14,000 hours of flying experience between them and were hailed in the aftermath of the crash for taking evasive action thought to have spared the lives of hundreds on the ground.
Prior to boarding Air India Flight 171, the crew and two pilots of the flight all underwent testing to ensure they were capable of operating the aircraft.
The report states that both pilots, who were based at Mumbai, had arrived at Ahmedabad the day before the flight and had an "adequate rest period".
The crew and pilots all also underwent a breathalyser test at 6.25am local time and were found "fit to operate the flight", it added.
Meanwhile, CCTV obtained from the airport revealed that there was no "significant bird activity" observed in the vicinity of the flight path. It is understood no fault has so far been found with the plane, sources close to the investigation said in the run-up to the release of the report.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the wreckage itself has been moved to a secure area near the airport.
An Air India spokesperson said it is cooperating fully with authorities following the crash.
They added: “Air India stands in solidarity with the families and those affected by the AI171 accident. We continue to mourn the loss and are fully committed to providing support during this difficult time.
“We acknowledge receipt of the preliminary report released by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) today, 12 July 2025. Air India is working closely with stakeholders, including regulators. We continue to fully cooperate with the AAIB and other authorities as their investigation progresses.
“Given the active nature of the investigation, we are unable to comment on specific details and refer all such enquiries to the AAIB.”
The tragedy last month claimed the lives of 241 people on board - 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian, as well as 12 crew members and left only one miraculous survivor — British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40.
At least 19 people were also killed on the ground as the doomed jet came down in a residential area and collided into five buildings, including accommodation for medical students.
Earlier this week it emerged Indian investigators of the deadly Air India airliner crash reportedly told a meeting of lawmakers that the plane's black boxes were not damaged.
The revelation about the devices critical to reconstructing the events leading up to an air crash, comes after Indian media said they were damaged when the London Gatwick-bound Boeing Dreamliner crashed.
The AAIB has also been able to extract "good data" from the black boxes, its officials told lawmakers on Wednesday during a parliamentary panel meeting on aviation.
The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR), as the black boxes are formally known, were recovered in the days after the crash, one from a rooftop at the site on June 13, and the other from debris on June 16.
Air India has faced intense scrutiny since the crash. Its chief executive, Campbell Wilson, appeared before the committee and the airline gave updates on its efforts after the crash, the source said.
The EU Aviation Safety Agency has said it plans to investigate the company's budget airline, Air India Express, after Reuters reported it did not follow a directive to change engine parts of an Airbus A320 in a timely manner and falsified records to show compliance.
India's aviation watchdog has also warned Air India for breaching rules for flying three Airbus planes with overdue checks on escape slides.
Air India released a statement following the publishing of Friday’s eport, saying the airline "stands in solidarity with the families and those affected" and that it is cooperating fully with authorities investigating the crash.
It did not respond to the specifics in the report.
