My Thoughts on the Ahmedabad Crash
(Based on an editorial by aviation analyst Simon Hradecky – July 2025)
Air India flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8, crashed just after takeoff from Ahmedabad on 12th June 2025. Since then, a lot of theories have started flying around. Some say the captain did it on purpose. Some think it was an accident. Others believe something went wrong technically.
After reading a detailed write-up by aviation analyst Simon Hradecky, I believe the crew were not trying to crash the plane. In fact, they may have been trying to save it after both engines started failing right after takeoff.
The Big Question: Why Were the Fuel Switches Moved?
The report says both fuel switches were moved to OFF, then back to ON. That has made people suspicious. But if you look at the airplane maker’s own procedures, this is exactly what the pilots are trained to do when both engines stop working.
It is a memory item. You switch them OFF then ON again to reset the engine computers and try to restart at least one engine. It is not sabotage, it is what is to be done when both engines go dead.
What the Timeline Tells Us
Here’s what we know from the report:
- The plane took off at 08:08:39 UTC.
- The emergency turbine, called the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) deployed around 08:08:41.
- The fuel switches were moved to OFF just after 08:08:42.
But here’s the key thing: the RAT only deploys when both engines stop producing power or when you lose all electrics. That means the engines were already dying before the pilots touched the fuel switches.
So clearly, the crew did not cause the engines to stop. They were already dealing with a major failure.
Why Was the Landing Gear Never Raised?
The report says the landing gear was never retracted. Usually, within seconds of takeoff, one pilot calls ‘gear up’ and the other pulls the lever.
That did not happen. Why? Most likely, the crew realized something was wrong right after lift-off. They probably did not even get to that callout because they were already dealing with a serious emergency.
Could It Be a Technical Fault?
Yes, and there is a history for that. The British Airways Boeing 777 that crash-landed just before the runway at Heathrow in 2008? Both engines failed just before landing. Nobody believed it at first. Two years later, they found it was ice crystals in the fuel system, something that had never been thought of before.
In this case, Simon Hradecky mentions a known issue with a tiny component in the engine computers called the MN4 chip. If both failed at the same time during takeoff, which is possible if they were already weak, they could have sent the wrong signals to reduce power. That would explain both engines shutting down without warning.
What is Missing in the Preliminary Report?
Unfortunately, the report leaves out too much. There is:
- No engine data (like speeds or fuel flow).
- Hardly anything from the cockpit voice recorder.
- No graphs, no timeline of engine behavior.
That is not enough to draw real conclusions. But even with this limited data, there is enough to say the engines started failing before the fuel switches were moved.
The CVR Quote
The report only quotes one vague line:
‘Why did you cutoff’?
‘I didn’t’.
This sounds suspicious if read alone. But what if one pilot was asking the other, ‘Did you do the memory item yet’? and the other replies ‘not yet’, then does it? That is actually teamwork, not foul play.
My After Thoughts
I have read the editorial. I have gone through the timeline. My conclusion?
The pilots did not shut the engines down. They were trying to restart them. One engine was even starting to recover. They almost made it.
Until we get full data, especially from the engines and the cockpit recorders, blaming the crew is unfair. They cannot defend themselves now, and the least we can do is not jump to conclusions.
Aviation has surprised us before with causes no one saw coming. This could be one of those times.
When a tragedy like this happens, the people who were in that cockpit can no longer speak for themselves. The very least we owe them, and everyone who was on that flight, is to search every possible technical cause, turn over every stone, and exhaust every explanation before we even whisper the idea of blame.