Air India Crash Probe Focuses on Captain's Fuel Shutdown, Motives Under Scrutiny

Startling Discovery in Air India Crash Investigation

The aftermath of the June 2023 Air India crash continues to raise tough questions for aviation authorities, pilots, and families alike. Soon after the Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off from Ahmedabad with 270 people on board, something no one expected happened: both engines lost power, and the plane fell from the sky in less than a minute. The critical clue, as uncovered in a new AAIB report, centers on a set of fuel switches that should have guaranteed a routine flight. Instead, they became the focal point of an investigation that's sparking plenty of debate.

The official report confirms that just three seconds into the flight, one of the pilots flipped both fuel control switches to the “cutoff” position back-to-back. Normally, these switches stay on during takeoff and landing—shutting them off kills fuel supply to the engines, essentially turning them off. Cockpit recordings reveal a tense conversation: the first officer expresses concern as the engines sputter, directly asking the captain why the fuel had been cut. Though the captain denies making the move, the data shows both switches were shut off nearly simultaneously.

Motive Remains Elusive as Theories Swirl

The quick loss of thrust left the crew with just seconds to react. One engine came back to life briefly, which allowed a desperate MAYDAY call to go out, but the other engine couldn’t be revived. There was virtually no time for recovery. Unfortunately, 32 seconds after departure, the jet crashed—leaving experts trying to interpret what led to such a catastrophic chain of events.

U.S. aviation officials, now collaborating with the Indian team, aren’t ruling out the possibility that the captain’s actions were deliberate. This puts the focus directly on the issue of *intent*, a topic that's not only rare but highly sensitive in commercial aviation. No motive has been proven or released by the AAIB, and there’s been pushback against attaching blame too quickly. The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association has slammed public suggestions of suicide or pilot sabotage, calling them wild speculation. That hasn’t stopped analysts from pointing to the cockpit voice recordings for possible insight.

On the technical side, the plane itself offered little in the way of mechanical clues. The AAIB notes both engines had been recently installed, with full maintenance records and no issues with the fuel control switches reported since 2023. Investigators are sifting through data from the onboard computers, looking for any bizarre system faults or hidden vulnerabilities. But so far, every sign points back to that split-second decision made inside the cockpit.

This crash has triggered long days of soul-searching in the aviation community. Was it a case of human error, a software glitch nobody saw coming, or something more intentional? As families wait and pilots defend their peers, the world watches closely for answers—knowing each new detail could reshape the narrative of what really happened on that ill-fated Air India flight.