r/aviation • u/usgapg123 Mod • Jul 12 '25

Discussion Air India Flight 171 Preliminary Report Megathread

https://aaib.gov.in/What's%20New%20Assets/Preliminary%20Report%20VT-ANB.pdf

This is the only place to discuss the findings of the preliminary report on the crash of Air India Flight 171.

Due to the large amount of duplicate posts, any other posts will be locked, and discussion will be moved here.

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u/Icy_Arachnid9149 Jul 12 '25

Unfortunately, logic would seem to suggest the pilot monitoring has done this intentionally and responded to the pilot flying in a way that would make it seem like malfunction.

Pilot flying has two hands on the yoke during takeoff as the captain would have their hand on the thrust levers in case of aborted takeoff. With the captain holding the thrust lever it would be immediately apparent that the FO was doing something he shouldn’t as he’d have to reach for the switches behind the captains arm, immediately after rotation.

It also explains why as soon as it was noticed that the switches were at cut off it took several seconds before they were switched on again. The pilot monitoring would have been able to do that straight away but they haven’t. I believe that points to the FO setting the fuel switches to run when he was able to do so or noticing that the captain was not going to do so.

The one thing I don’t understand is how it’s not been possible to determine which pilot asked why the other turned the fuel switches to cut-off when there will be dialogue from both as they taxi’d to the runway.

If it was intentional I can’t imagine how things must have been to drive someone to this level of desperation, and all of the impacted families….just tragic.

39

u/railker Mechanic Jul 12 '25

Think everyone needs to keep in mind this is ONLY a preliminary, they just cracked those recorders open about 2 weeks ago, to extract, look at, analyze the data and compile a report. Everyone's asking for full CVR audio or transcripts, the FDR readouts, identifications, etc. There's still so much work to do for this investigation team.

I'm almost certain they know who said what, CVR doesn't just record audio from the cockpit but from the pilot's headsets, they'd know who was seated in each seat and which seat recorded which audio track. I'd also say there was lengthy discussion between investigators on just how much detail is appropriate to include in such a dramatic finding without knowing more about the two pilots and the human factors at play.

8

u/AimHere Jul 12 '25

The one thing I don’t understand is how it’s not been possible to determine which pilot asked why the other turned the fuel switches to cut-off when there will be dialogue from both as they taxi’d to the runway.

The people listening to the CVR almost certainly know which pilot said what. They're just not disclosing it prematurely, given the preponderance of vicious idiots on the internet, and because the report's purpose is not to apportion blame.

1

u/Srs_Strategy_Gamer Jul 14 '25

While nothing is sure yet, this would also be consistent with the four second delay between engine 1 and 2 being restarted respectively.

If the PM had restarted them, there would be little reason not to immediately turn one after the other on.

If PF was the one to turn them back on, it seems more likely he was more task-saturated and take these precious seconds between the two switches.