Mumbai: The narrative of deliberate pilot action surrounding the catastrophic crash of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad last year has been upended following The Free Press Journal’s exclusive report that the captain’s last remains indicate that he was trying to prevent the aircraft from crashing. Following the report, pilots’ associations and aviation experts have stressed on the need of exploring other possible causes, including electrical error in the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.
Crash Details and Preliminary Report
On June 12, 2025, scheduled passenger flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick with 242 on board crashed moments after take-off, killing 260 people, including nearly all passengers and and 19 people on the ground. While the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)’s preliminary report noted that the aircraft lost total thrust in both engines because the fuel control switches had been moved from 'RUN' to 'CUTOFF' just seconds after lift-off, it also included a single line of conversation between the two pilots indicating that the one of them moved the switches.
In the last few months, foreign media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and Italy’s Corriere della Sera, have reported that India’s investigation report will conclude that Capt. Sumeet Sabharwal (56) had intentionally cut the fuel flow in a rogue suicide-homicide mission. While Western media reports and early leaks from investigative bodies have aggressively leaned towards a theory of deliberate pilot action, new forensic and eyewitness details emerged via The Free Press Journal’s report suggest a far more heroic – and technically terrifying – final 32 seconds inside the cockpit of the Dreamliner.
Forensic Evidence of Heroic Struggle
Citing eyewitnesses who observed Captain Sabharwal’s body and detailed autopsy records, the report reveals that the veteran pilot’s final remains bore catastrophic physical trauma consistent with someone exerting immense manual force to pull back on the controls. It highlighted that the physical condition of the Captain's remains strongly indicates he was desperately fighting to pull the nose of the aircraft up and prevent it from slamming into a densely populated area.
This physical evidence aligns with the chilling final audio transmission from the cockpit where one of the pilots screamed “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" While the AAIB report’s preliminary report did not clarify which pilot made a call, experts have argued that a pilot intending to crash an aircraft would not radio a frantic distress call regarding lack of thrust, nor would they suffer injuries indicative of a violent physical struggle to save the airframe.
FIP President on Control Column Evidence
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP)’s president Capt. CS Randhawa highlighted that the aircraft’s control column was seen in the hands of the Captain’s remains, indicating that the charge would have been transferred from the first officer to the captain but AAIB’s preliminary report did not disclose this information.
“With the control column in hand, it is very clear that the captain had already taken over the control. The aircraft was found at a pitch altitude of eight degrees, where he must have been trying to avoid the buildings. It is clear that the control was in the captain’s hands and the efforts were being made to save it from crashing,” he said.
Electrical Error Hypothesis Proposed
Earlier this month, the FIP had written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation about a hypothesis proposing that a pre-lift-off electrical error could have caused the dual engine shutdown. The theory claims that a pre-lift-off electrical disturbance, potentially triggered by a battery short circuit, may have caused the aircraft’s computer-controlled fuel cut-off, shutting down both engines simultaneously without any pilot intervention. However, no reaction was given by the ministry.
The developments have prompted pilots’ associations and aviation experts to demand that investigators immediately shift their focus away from pilot shaming and towards a known, recurring vulnerability of the Boeing 787's complex electrical architecture. Experts have also cited a critical Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States’ airworthiness directive issued in 2020, which warned that if a Boeing 787 operated continuously for 51 days without a total power cycle, its flight control computers could automatically shut down or behave erratically.
Expert Questions Lack of Technical Focus
Mumbai-based Flying Bird Aviation’s director Ashish Kumar Singh highlighted that while the deliberate pilot action narrative has been pushed since the beginning, the investigation does not seem to be focusing on the mechanical and technical aspects of the aircraft. He stated that the theory blames the person who has been killed in the accident and can not vouch for himself.
“There wasn’t enough time for the pilot to even make an error and there were no adverse factors which would have led to an error. AAIB’s preliminary investigation report does not reflect upon evaluation of maintenance and technical aspects of the aircraft. A report should not be biased and talk about every aspect of what was found and then reach to the conclusion,” he added.
Shortly after the Ahmedabad crash, FIP had expressed serious concerns upon the preliminary investigation report, alleging that it lacked comprehensive data and appeared to rely selectively on paraphrased cockpit voice recordings to suggest pilot error. Recently, the body also highlighted a discrepancy in the preliminary report, which noted that Ram Air turbine (RAT) hydraulic power appeared just four seconds after fuel cutoff, arguing that the deployment must have triggered at least two seconds before the engines died, as the RAT takes at least six seconds to fully deploy and provide power.
However, Mumbai-based aviation expert Vipul Saxena insisted that it was a major accident killing hundreds of passengers, raising doubts on aviation safety standards of India. “We must wait for a comprehensive investigation report rather than jumping to conclusions on isolated inputs, as this may unnecessarily create confusion among bereaving families, passenger sentiments about Air India as Brand and reputation of India on Aviation Safety,” he said.
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