Investigators have disclosed unsettling cockpit audio from Air India Flight 171, revealing an eerie exchange moments before the jet crashed, killing all passengers except one in June.

As the aircraft lifted off from Ahmedabad, India, both fuel-control switches abruptly shifted to the “cut-off” position, an action typically reserved for post-landing procedure, causing both engines to lose power.

Seconds later, one pilot was heard asking, “why did you cut off the switches?” The other responded, “I didn’t.”

Officials said the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was airborne for less than a minute before plummeting into a densely populated neighbourhood.

The cockpit voice recording indicated the co-pilot was flying at the time, while the captain was monitoring. After the switches were returned to normal inflight settings, one engine began regaining thrust while the other was still recovering.

Despite clear skies, Flight 171 climbed to only 625 feet before location data was lost, according to FlightRadar24.

Experts from Boeing, General Electric, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and teams from the UK and US are involved in the ongoing probe. They reported that the lever-lock fuel switches require deliberate upward pulling before flipping, an intricate safeguard against accidental shutdown. The system, first developed in the 1950s, is housed within protective guard brackets to prevent unintentional engagement.

“It would be almost impossible to pull both switches with a single movement of one hand, and this makes accidental deployment unlikely,” a Canada-based investigator told the BBC.

“Was it intentional, or the result of confusion? That seems unlikely, as the pilots reported nothing unusual,” said Shawn Pruchnicki, a former airline accident investigator at Ohio State University. He added that cockpit confusion typically manifests through incorrect selections or emergency miscommunication, none of which were evident in this case.

Peter Goelz, a former managing director at the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), described the findings as “very disturbing”. He said, “The new details suggest someone in the cockpit shut those valves. The question is, who, and why?”

Goelz further emphasised that the complete cockpit voice recording remains essential to determining the sequence of events. He explained, “They haven’t identified the voices yet, which is crucial… As of now, we still don’t know which pilot turned the switches off and back on.”

Investigators noted the lack of cockpit video as a limiting factor. A visual feed would have offered direct evidence of whose hand triggered the switches.

The NTSB has long recommended over-the-shoulder cockpit cameras, yet they remain absent in most commercial jets.

Both pilots passed breathalyser tests and were declared fit to fly before the incident, having arrived in Ahmedabad the day prior and received adequate rest.

The report also references a 2018 FAA Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin which flagged that locking features on some Boeing 737 fuel switches had been disengaged.

Although the finding did not warrant an Airworthiness Directive, it remains significant because the same design was used on the crashed Boeing 787-8, registration VT-ANB. Air India reportedly did not act on the advisory.

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Source: Legit.ng