Black Box Reveals Cause of Deadly Air India Boeing 787 Crash — A Tragedy Triggered by a Mechanical Failure
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In the months since the disaster, investigators from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), aided by international agencies, have painstakingly analyzed the aircraft’s black box recordings — including the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) — to uncover what happened in those critical final seconds. This analysis has now revealed how a catastrophic mechanical failure combined with complex human factors led to one of the deadliest air disasters in recent history.
This article unravels that tragedy: the timeline of events, what the black boxes revealed, the preliminary findings and lingering questions, what went wrong technically and operationally, and what lessons are being drawn for aviation worldwide.
1. The Flight, the Crash, and the Immediate Aftermath
Air India Flight AI‑171, operated by a Boeing 787‑8 Dreamliner registered as VT‑ANB, was scheduled to fly from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick Airport on the afternoon of June 12, 2025, carrying passengers and crew from several countries.
Shortly after takeoff, at approximately 13:39 local time, the aircraft climbed to around 625 feet of altitude but failed to gain sufficient lift or speed.
Moments later, the crew issued a “Mayday, mayday, mayday” distress call.
Seconds after that, the Dreamliner lost altitude rapidly and crashed into a hostel building housing medical students near the airport, triggering a massive fire and devastation.
The impact was catastrophic. Among the passengers and crew, there was only one known survivor, a British national of Indian heritage, who miraculously walked away from the wreckage with injuries.
2. Black Boxes: What They Are and Why They Matter
Despite their ominous name, aircraft “black boxes” — which include the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) — are painted bright orange to help rescuers locate them after a crash.
Flight Data Recorder (FDR): Records hundreds or thousands of flight parameters every second, including airspeed, altitude, engine performance, control surface movements, and system warnings.
Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR): Captures audio from the cockpit, including pilot voices, alarms, radio communications, and ambient sounds.
Together, these devices allow investigators to reconstruct the final moments of a flight with astonishing detail — often second by second. In complex crashes, where mechanical systems, pilot actions, environmental conditions, and system alerts interact, the black box often tells the only objective story of what occurred.
3. Recovery and Decoding of the Black Boxes
Within hours of the crash, rescue teams located one of the black boxes amid the wreckage. It was found on the roof of a hostel building that the plane struck — a rare but fortunate discovery given the severity of the impact.
Despite sustaining severe thermal and impact damage, investigators were able to successfully extract the memory modules and download data from both FDR and CVR devices — an essential breakthrough that enabled a detailed reconstruction of the accident sequence.
4. What the Data Revealed: The Critical Seconds Before the Crash
Once decoded and analyzed, the black box data and cockpit audio painted a dramatic and chilling picture of those final seconds:
Dual Engine Failure and Fuel Cutoff
The FDR data showed that shortly after takeoff, both engines lost thrust because the fuel control switches were moved from “RUN” to “CUTOFF” positions — effectively stopping the flow of fuel to the engines.
This led to an almost immediate loss of engine power just moments after liftoff, a situation from which recovery is extremely difficult, especially at low altitude.
After a brief attempt to restore engine power by switching the switches back to RUN, one engine showed signs of relighting, but it was too little, too late. The aircraft lacked sufficient altitude and airspeed to sustain flight.
Cockpit Voice Recorder: Confusion and Crisis
The CVR recordings captured in the cockpit added a deeply human dimension to the technical data:
One pilot was heard asking the other: “Why did you cut off?” — suggesting that at least one crew member did not understand what had happened to the engines.
The other responded “I didn’t”, indicating confusion and lack of clarity in the cockpit about how the fuel switch movement occurred.
This cockpit audio has become one of the most scrutinized elements of the investigation, raising questions about whether the fuel cutoff was accidental, deliberate, or caused by a latent mechanical anomaly — a topic that remains under intense examination.
5. Preliminary Findings: No Immediate Design Fault
Although early media speculation focused on Boeing’s 787 systems or potential design flaws, the initial analysis did not find any direct evidence of a systemic mechanical defect that would have automatically cut engine fuel supply.
Investigators noted that:
The fuel control switches are physically guarded with brackets to prevent accidental movement, and a metal stop lock mechanism requires deliberate action to change their position.
There were no prior advisories from Boeing or engine manufacturer GE Aerospace about an inherent flaw in the 787’s fuel system that would spontaneously trigger such shutdowns.
Routine maintenance records did not show a mechanical anomaly immediately before the flight that would explain automatic shutdown of both engines.
The Ram Air Turbine (RAT), an emergency backup power system that deploys when the main engines and electrical systems fail, was observed to activate in footage and recordings — confirming a total loss of normal power before the crash.
Taken together, these points suggested that the aircraft’s core design and systems functioned within expected parameters prior to the fuel cutoff action — but they also left open the decisive question of how and why fuel flow was terminated.
6. Was It Human Error? Debate and Controversy
One of the most controversial aspects of the investigation has been whether the crash resulted from human action or inadvertent mechanical movement.
Pilot Actions Under Scrutiny
The CVR suggested that at least one pilot was unaware of the fuel cutoff action, prompting intense media speculation and analytical debate:
Some aviation experts posited that the fuel switches might have been moved inadvertently amid a high‑workload situation, possibly due to startle effect or inadvertent contact in the cramped cockpit environment.
Others raised the possibility of a deliberate action by one of the pilots — a theory that, if substantiated, would have serious implications for pilot screening, cockpit protocol, and psychological safeguards.
News reports referenced recordings that allegedly suggest the captain may have moved the switches — a claim that added further controversy to the narrative and drew attention to cockpit behavior and decision‑making under stress.
However, official statements from the AAIB and regulators have been cautious in attributing blame — noting that the black box data has not definitively established whether the action was deliberate or accidental.
7. Wider Investigation and Ongoing Questions
Even with the black box analysis yielding key findings, the investigation continues into several remaining uncertainties:
Who Moved the Fuel Switches — and Why?
The most critical unanswered question is whether the fuel cutoff was the result of:
An unintentional movement due to confusion, cockpit workload, or ergonomic design issues;
A deliberate action by a crew member; or
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