Air India breaks silence after report suggests pilots may have made fatal error

Air India officials have spoken out after crash investigators suggested pilot error could be behind last month's Air India crash

The aircraft, which had only just set off for Gatwick, suddenly crashed into a medical college after taking off from the city of Ahmedabad on June 12. British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh miraculously made it out alive, while 241 people onboard and 29 people on the ground were declared dead.

Now, analysis of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s Black Box indicates a "possibility" that the pilots could have made a mistake while operating the jet. The early assessments indicate no apparent fault with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which went down shortly after take off. A preliminary report into the disaster points to switches to the engines’ fuel supplies being turned offseconds after it left the runway.

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Captain Sumeet Sabharwal was the lead pilot on the journey, with Clive Kunder acting as his co-pilot. The findings of the probe, which is run by the the US National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and GE Aerospace, are starting to be made public.

Indian investigators recovered the black boxes from the wreckage site a couple of days after the crash. These boxes - which are typically orange, not black - are considered the most important pieces of forensic evidence following a plane crash. There are typically two sturdy devices, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder.

The black boxes were flown from Ahmedabad to the national capital, New Delhi, in an Indian Air Force aircraft amid tight security early this week. The investigation could take weeks or months.

A committee is expected to file an official preliminary report within three months. Following the crash, Indian authorities ordered deeper checks of Air India's entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner to prevent future incidents.

An Air India spokesperson has broken their silence since news of the report was made public, they said: "Air India stands in solidarity with the families and those affected by the AI171 accident. We continue to mourn the loss and are fully committed to providing support during this difficult time.

"We acknowledge receipt of the preliminary report released by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) today, 12 July 2025. Air India is working closely with stakeholders, including regulators. We continue to fully co-operate with the AAIB and other authorities as their investigation progresses.

"Given the active nature of the investigation, we are unable to comment on specific details and refer all such enquiries to the AAIB."

The spokesperson does not address specific findings in the report.