The 30-Second Nightmare: Why the 'Uncrashable' Dreamliner Fell

Unravel the shocking mystery of Air India AI171, the "uncrashable" Dreamliner that plunged 30 seconds after takeoff. Black box data reveals fuel cutoff switches were flipped, followed by a baffling cockpit exchange: "Why did you cut off?" "I didn't." Unpacking India's deadliest air crash with only one survivor.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Crash
• 3:00 Immediate Response
• 6:00 The Investigation Begins
• 9:00 Findings & Accountability

Transcript

0:00

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Imagine this scene, a brand new, state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It's just lifted off from a busy airport, big city, hundreds of people on board. But instead of climbing, it just struggles, and then it falls back to earth, crashing into a neighborhood mere seconds after takeoff. It's a shocking image. Truly devastating, and almost unbelievable with modern aircraft. Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we're diving into that exact scenario. The crash of Air India Flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad, India, back on June 12th, 2025. You've given us the sources, the news reports, official preliminary findings, articles. Our job is to sift through it, pull out the crucial facts, and really explore the questions around this crash. And there are definitely some big questions. Yeah. So get ready for a detailed look, moment by moment, what the investigation found and maybe what it means going forward. It's a tough one, especially considering where it happened. Ahmedabad, a city of, what, seven or eight million people? Huge. And the plane didn't just crash near the airport. It went down right into the BJ Medical College hostel, Magani Nagar, a dense residential area. Exactly. So the immediate impact, the devastation, it was immense. You had the people on the plane, obviously, but then also people on the ground, medical students in that hostel. Just tragic. Okay. So let's set the scene a bit more. Flight AI-171, Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, registration VT-ANB. And Ahmedabad, of course, is in Gujarat, Prime Minister Modi's home state. That Ahmedabad-London route is, well, it's a very popular one. Why is that? There's a very large Gujarati community in Britain, so it's a major connection point for families, business, everything. Makes the tragedy hit even harder for those communities. Right. That makes sense. Now, the flight itself, this is maybe the most shocking part. How long was it actually airborne? Just 32 seconds. 32 seconds. That's it. It barely covered 0.9 nautical miles from takeoff, less than a mile. Incredible. Can you break down those seconds for us? Okay. So liftoff was at 1.38, 0.39 p.m. local time. It climbed, but only to about 625 feet. That's roughly 190 meters, very low. And there was a Mayday call. Yes. Just seconds before they lost contact, the pilots radioed Mayday to ATC. People on the ground reported seeing it, you know, struggling to gain height before it just fell. And the crash site. You mentioned the Medical College Hostel. What did it look like? It was grim. Reports and social media footage showed debris burning, massive plumes of thick black smoke. You could see the tail section of the plane sticking out of one of the concrete buildings. And some truly haunting details, like images of metal plates, you know, phallus, with uneaten food inside the damaged college cafeteria. Oh wow. Just snapshots of ordinary life interrupted. Exactly. It paints a picture of just how suddenly this happened. And the wreckage itself, it wasn't contained, was it? No, not at all. It spread over a pretty large area, maybe 1,000 feet by 400 feet, hit five different buildings in that area. The force must have been tremendous. The speed of it all, 32 seconds start to finish, is just mind boggling. It really is. There was no time to react, no time to comprehend. Let's talk about the human cost, which was just immense. Horrific. On the plane, 241 out of 242 people were killed. And on the ground? Initial local reports said 24 deaths, but the official preliminary report confirmed 19 fatalities on the ground. So that brings the total confirmed death toll to 260. And many of those on the ground were students in the hostel. Yes, tragically, young medical students. Who was on the plane? Do we know the nationalities? We do. The passenger list included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, 1 Canadian, and 7 Portuguese nationals. It really underscores the international dimension, hitting families across continents. Absolutely. But amidst all this loss, there was one survivor from the plane. Yes, an incredible story. Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin. He somehow managed to get out through an emergency exit. How was he? Doctors said he was disoriented, multiple injuries, but crucially, out of danger. His words to the media were chilling. He said, 30 seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise, and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly. It's just, wow, to survive that, almost impossible to imagine. Truly astounding luck, or perhaps quick thinking in escaping. What was the immediate reaction from officials? It was swift. Prime Minister Modi visited the site, expressed condolences. In the UK, Prime Minister Starmer and Foreign Minister Lammy acknowledged the tragedy, activated support teams. But for the families arriving at the airport, it was just chaos and agony, desperate for any news. I can only imagine. And Air India, what was their response? They moved quite quickly to set up assistance centers at Gatwick, Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad airports, helping families with information, travel arrangements to Ahmedabad, a necessary step in such a crisis. Okay, so the immediate aftermath is chaos, grief, support efforts. But the big question hanging over everything is why? What happened in those 72 seconds? Exactly. And the focus immediately turns to the black boxes. Right. The flight recorders, the EAFRs, enhanced airborne flight recorders. What were investigators hoping to find there? Everything, really. These boxes are designed to survive intense impacts and fire. They record hundreds of parameters, airspeed, altitude, engine performance, control inputs, plus the cockpit voice recorder, the CVR, captures every sound, every word spoken in the cockpit. They are the objective witnesses. How quickly did they get information from them? Remarkably fast. India's AAB, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, led the probe. But it was a big international effort. Who else was involved? The US NTSB, Boeing, GE, who made the engines, the FAA, plus agencies from the UK, Portugal, Canada, representing the nationalities involved. They all collaborated. OK, so a global effort. And what did those recorders reveal? What was the bombshell finding from the preliminary report? It was stunning. The core finding, the reason the plane came down, was a cut in the fuel supply to both engines simultaneously, just seconds after takeoff. Both engines cut off. How is that even possible by accident? That's the billion-dollar question. It centers on the fuel cutoff switches. In the 787, like many jets, these are levers in the cockpit between the pilot seats, just behind the throttles. Think of them like emergency shutoff valves. Critically, they have protective features. A metal bar guard, a locking mechanism specifically designed to prevent you from moving them accidentally. You have to consciously lift and move them. So not something you just bump. Not supposed to be, no. And the report detailed the exact sequence. Yes, minute by minute, or rather, second by second. At 1.38.42 p.m., just three seconds after liftoff, as the plane hit 180 knots, both engine one and engine two fuel cutoff switches moved from the RON position to cutoff within one second of each other. Wow. Instantly starving the engines. Instantly. Right at the most critical phase of flight. And then came that chilling exchange from the cockpit voice recorder. Yeah. This is what really makes your hair stand on end. One pilot is heard asking the other, clearly audible on the recording, why did you cut off? And the response? The other pilot responds, simply, I didn't. I didn't? Those two words, they just hang there. It completely reframes everything. Was it a misunderstanding? A system issue that looked like a manual command? A brief moment of something else? It leaves this massive question mark right at the heart of the incident. So with the fuel cut, the engines start winding down. What happens next mechanically? You mentioned the RAT. Right. The RAT Rammer Turbine. It's basically a small windmill that pops out automatically when the plane loses primary power. It uses the airflow to generate emergency electricity and hydraulic pressure for basic flight controls. And it deployed? Immediately after the cutoff. Yeah. It's a clear sign the plane knew it had lost main engine power. Total power loss situation, essentially. But they tried to restart the engines. They did. The data shows the switches being moved back to REN just moments later. Engine one at 1.38.52 PM. Engine two, four seconds after that, at 1.38.56 PM. Okay. So about 10, 14 seconds after the cutoff. Exactly. And the engine computers, the FADDCs, Full Authority Digital Engine Control, they automatically initiated the relight sequence. Did it work? Engine one started showing signs of recovery, spooling up slightly. But engine two seemed to struggle more. The problem is they were desperately low and slow. There just wasn't enough time or altitude. And then the Mayday call. Mayday call came at 1.39.05 PM. And the flight data recording stopped just six seconds later at 1.39.11 PM. Just before impact. So this points heavily towards the fuel cutoff switches being moved. But the why is the mystery. What else did investigators look at and rule out? The pilots? They looked very closely. Captain Sabharwal, First Officer Kunder, both medically fit, rested before the flight. Highly experienced pilots. How experienced? The captain had over 15,600 total hours with a massive 8,500 just on the 787. The first officer over 3,400 total hours, more than 1,100 on the 787. So you know, these weren't rookies by any stretch. Experience wasn't the issue here. Okay. What about other factors? Weather, birds, weight? All checked. Takeoff weight was normal. Fuel quality was fine. Flap settings, landing gear position, all correct for takeoff. No reports of significant bird activity. Weather was okay. Not a factor. And crucially, what about the plane itself or sabotage? The preliminary report was quite clear. No immediate evidence of sabotage. And importantly, no evidence suggesting a design flaw or a mechanical problem with the Boeing airframe or the GE engines. They didn't issue any urgent safety bulletins to other 787 operators, which they likely would have if they suspected a fleet-wide issue. Which really brings the focus back squarely onto those switches in the cockpit and that baffling I didn't comment. Precisely. Let's talk context for a minute. The 787 Dreamliner itself, this particular aircraft was 11 years old, but the model's overall reputation? Before this, impeccable, really. It had been flying commercially for 15 years, over 1,100 of them in service worldwide. And at all that time, zero fatal crashes, zero hull losses. Zero. Zero. It was seen as a real workhorse for long haul routes, very reliable, very safe, advanced materials efficient. So for this plane to be the first, it sent shockwaves through the industry. And of course, its manufacturer, Boeing, has been under intense scrutiny lately. How does that fit in or does it? It's impossible to ignore the context, even if investigators haven't found a direct link here. You had the two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 caused by the MCAS software issues, horrific loss of life. Right. Then more recently, January 2024, that Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 incident, the door plug blowing out mid-flight due to missing bolts, a manufacturing quality issue. Yeah, that was frightening. And there was the sad story of the whistleblower, John Barnett, who'd raised concerns about 787 production, specifically potential oxygen system issues before his death. So a lot swirling around Boeing. A tremendous amount. But it's crucial to reiterate the preliminary report for this Air India crash found no evidence linking it to those previous Boeing issues or Barnett specific concerns. They're treating it as separate unless further evidence emerges. OK. What about Air India's safety record? How does it generally compare? It's considered broadly comparable to many large international carriers. Think maybe Turkish Airlines, maybe some U.S. legacy carriers. It's not considered top tier like, say, Qantas or Singapore Airlines, who have near-perfect recent records. Have they had major incidents before? Yes, historically. The most prominent was probably the bombing of Flight 182 back in 1985. And there's a fatal runway overshoot with a 737 in Mangalore in 2010. So they have had incidents, but again, within the range you might see for an airline of its size and history. Now back to the mechanics. A simultaneous dual engine power down initiated by fuel cutoff. Just how unlikely is that? One analyst we saw quoted put it bluntly, improbable like hell. OK. Because modern jets are built with redundancy. Engine failures happen, though rarely. Pilots train extensively for single engine failures. But losing both simultaneously, especially triggered this way, right after takeoff, it bypasses so many safety layers, it's extraordinarily rare. It sounds like it. And you mentioned this draws comparisons, but also contrasts with an older incident, a Delta 767. Yes, back in the 1980s. A Delta Boeing 767 flight where a pilot mistakenly shut off the fuel to both engines. Similar action, very different outcome. But saved them. Altitude and time. They were cruising at a high altitude. When the engines cut out, they had thousands of feet and precious minutes to figure out what happened, get the switches back to Arun, and successfully restart the engines. They glided, restarted, and landed safely. But flight AI-171 didn't have that luxury. Not even close. They were at maybe 600 feet, airspeed dropping rapidly. By the time they got the switches back, even with engine one showing some life, there just wasn't enough height or time for a successful restart and recovery before impact. It highlights how critical those first few seconds after takeoff are. So we circle back to the core mystery, though what seems clear from the black box is the fuel cutoff switches were moved. But the why remains elusive, especially with that I didn't from the cockpit. Exactly. That's the focus now. Investigators are digging into everything. Pilot backgrounds, training, psychological state, everything. They're also looking closely at the switch mechanism itself. The locking feature. Right. There was an FAA advisory directive back in 2018 about the possibility of the locking paddles on the fuel cutoff levers on Boeing 737s, which have a similar design becoming disengaged, potentially allowing inadvertent movement. Had Air India done anything about that advisory? The report notes Air India hadn't performed the specific inspections mentioned in that advisory as they weren't mandatory actions at the time for the 787. It doesn't mean this was the cause, but it's definitely an area they're scrutinizing. Could the lock have somehow failed or been inadvertently bypassed? It's on the table. And the investigation isn't over yet? No, definitely not. This is just a preliminary report. There will be much more detailed analysis, metallurgical tests on components, deeper dives into the data, final post-mortem reports, potentially more witness interviews. Getting to a final conclusion takes time. So wrapping this up, what does this incredibly tragic and perplexing incident mean for us, for aviation? Well, we've walked through the horrifying speed of it, the terrible human cost, and these really puzzling findings. I think the Air India Dreamliner crash forces us to confront some uncomfortable realities about our safety. You have an aircraft with a perfect record, state-of-the-art technology. And yet this happens in 32 seconds. Right. It raises questions. As planes get more complex, are we more reliant on the human element in those split-second critical moments or less? What happens when communication breaks down or when actions don't match words like that I didn't? It really highlights that interface between the pilot and the machine. Absolutely. It's a stark reminder that even with incredibly sophisticated systems, the human factor actions, reactions, perception, and sometimes sheer mystery remains absolutely central. Understanding that is key to preventing future tragedies. Definitely something to think about until our next deep dive.