A preliminary report into the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad shows the fuel control switches, used to shut down the engines, were moved to the cutoff position
Air India crash linked to sudden fuel switch shutdown
A preliminary report into the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad shows the fuel control switches, used to shut down the engines, were moved to the cutoff position.
A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India on June 13, 2025
Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed soon after taking off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad
A preliminary report into last month’s Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad found the aircraft engines’ fuel control switches shifted from “run” to “cutoff” within a second of each other, causing a loss of thrust.
Only one person out of the 242 people on board the airplane survived, and at least 19 people died on the ground where the plane crashed moments after takeoff.
According to a preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released on Friday, the plane reached 180 knots indicated airspeed (IAS), and “immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 1 second.”
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner immediately began to lose thrust.
Questions about the pilots’ actions
The report did not provide a reason for why the switch could have flipped to the cutoff position.
“At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to Boeing 787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers,” India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said., suggesting no technical issues with the engines or the aircraft.
The bureau also explained that the Engine and Flight Data Recorder (EAFR) — more commonly known as the aircraft’s “black box” — was “substantially damaged,” to the extent that its data “could not be downloaded through conventional means.”
In the cockpit voice recording retrieved from the black box, the report said “one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff,” and the other pilot “responded that he did not do so
