In a damning revelation, The Air Current, a respected name in aviation journalism, reports that “the ongoing investigation into the cause of the June 12 crash of Air India flight 171 has narrowed its focus to the movement of the engine fuel control switches.”
A news portal has cited an article that claims “multiple people with knowledge of the investigation” pointing to a potentially catastrophic misstep in cockpit procedures.
The preliminary report of this crash is expected any moment now, with July 11 widely believed to be the date of release — if not sooner. Reports claimed that neither the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) nor the Civil Aviation Ministry has committed to an exact publication date. India, being a signatory to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), is obligated to publish the preliminary findings within 30 days of the incident.
Crucially, while journal stops short of directly stating the implication, any investigation zeroing in on the fuel control switches of a Boeing 787 inevitably raises serious questions about pilot error. The possibility that this was a case of fatal human error is impossible to ignore.
Experts in aviation, though not directly involved in the investigation, told the media house that a scenario involving a single-engine failure shortly after take-off may have triggered a fatal mistake in the cockpit. Standard procedures require pilots to shut off fuel to a failing engine — but if, amid the chaos, they shut off fuel to the wrong engine — the one still functioning — the consequences would be immediate and irretrievable.
To be clear: if one of the aircraft’s two General Electric Aerospace GEnx-1B engines had failed, the last thing the pilots should have done was cut fuel to the other. Restarting an engine, or “relighting,” is not instant. It demands time and altitude — two things the doomed Dreamliner never had. If the operational engine was mistakenly shut down, there would have been no way out. No altitude to buy time. No power to regain control. No second chance.
What’s more, the journal highlights another glaring red flag: “the lack of any kind of advisory warning from Boeing or GE operators, known as a multi-operator message (MOM) or all-ops wire, in the 13 days that have followed the initial black box reading in Delhi by the AAIB on June 25 is a key signal that a mechanical failure is not immediately suspected as the likely cause of the crash.”
That silence from Boeing and GE speaks volumes. The absence of technical alerts or operator warnings further fuels the narrative that this was not a mechanical failure — but something else entirely.
As the world waits for answers, it remains uncertain when the final crash report will be released — or whether the preliminary report, now imminent, will lay bare the true cause of what is now known as the first-ever crash of a Boeing 787.
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