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On July 12, India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released a preliminary report on the Air India Flight 171 crash from the previous month. The report revealed that the aircraft's engine fuel switches were turned off seconds after takeoff, which caused the engines to lose power and ultimately led to the crash. However, the report did not specify which pilot was responsible for this action.
A recent Wall Street Journal article suggests that cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data indicates the senior captain may have been involved in turning the switches to the CUTOFF position while the co-pilot was confused about what had occurred. During takeoff, First Officer Clive Kunder was piloting as Captain Sumeet Sabharwal monitored. The AAIB noted an exchange where one pilot asked why someone cut off fuel flow, with a response denying responsibility. Inside sources attributed these comments to Kunder and Sabharwal respectively.
While there is no conclusive evidence that Sabharwal moved the switches himself, it is suggested he had a better opportunity as he was monitoring while Kunder was flying. Despite efforts to correct the switch position back to RUN within 10 seconds, it was too late, resulting in a crash into a medical college that killed 241 people onboard and 19 on ground.
