The Western media wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to shape the narrative when it comes to India quickly pointing fingers at the Indian pilots, conveniently shielding Western interests tied to Boeing. As expected, the usual suspects in Western media echoed the same line in unison, “The pilot cut off fuel to the engines nothing wrong with the aircraft.”
For instance, on 12 June 2025, the BBC, through its YouTube channel, published content with the caption, “Air India crash: Pilot cut off fuel to engines – no fault with plane.”
Reuters followed suit with a headline reading, “Air India crash report shows pilot confusion over engine switch movement.”
The New York Post ran the story under, “Air India pilots may have made fatal error before crash that killed more than 270 people, probe reveals.”
The Telegraph’s coverage was titled, “Air India pilot asked why fuel had been cut off moments before fatal crash.”
But what does the actual preliminary investigation report say?
According to findings released by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau on 11 July 2025, both engines of Air India’s Boeing 787-8 lost thrust due to a change in the fuel control switches just three seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad on 12 June. The crash resulted in the deaths of at least 260 people.
The report specifies that the fuel control switches for both engines moved from the “RUN” to the “CUTOFF” position within a second of each other at exactly 1:38:42 p.m., three seconds after the aircraft became airborne.
Crucially, the report does not clarify whether the switch transition was accidental or intentional. However, it does cite cockpit voice recordings indicating that one pilot questioned the other about the cutoff, the report stated, “In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.” The report does not specify which of the two, Captain or First Officer, made the remark, and a full transcript of the cockpit audio was not included.
Aviation safety expert and founder of the NGO Safety Matters, Amit Singh, emphasized that questions remain unanswered. “Until the investigation explains how a supposedly secured fuel switch could move to ‘CUTOFF’ and provides a clear sequence of error messages and aircraft behavior, the complete picture is still unclear,” he said.
According to the report, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, with 8,200 flight hours, was overseeing the flight, while First Officer Clive Kundar, with 1,100 hours of experience, was at the controls.
Roughly thirty seconds after takeoff, a distress call “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY” was transmitted. Although air traffic control responded by asking for the aircraft’s call sign, no reply was received. Seconds later, at 1:39 p.m., the aircraft crashed just outside the airport perimeter.
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