Volo Air India 171, possibili cause.

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On June 12, 2025, the aircraft carrying the flight, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed during takeoff into a medical college in Meghani Nagar, a densely populated residential area adjacent to the airport. There were 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board; only one passenger survived the crash, with incredibly minor injuries. Twenty-nine other people died on the ground, and over sixty injured people were hospitalized. It was also the first fatal crash and the first complete loss of a 787 Dreamliner since its introduction in 2011.

Flight 171 took off from runway 23 at Ahmedabad Airport at 1:38 PM local time (IST, 08:08 UTC) bound for London Gatwick. According to METAR reports, the weather was stable and visibility was clear.

The Investigations

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Air India have launched investigations to determine the cause of the accident. A technical team has been dispatched to the scene. At the time of the crash, the aircraft was fully fueled for its long-haul flight to London, which may have intensified the fire. Both the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder were recovered from the crash site.

The preliminary report was released on July 8. Based on analysis of the flight data recorder, the aircraft began its takeoff roll at 1:37:37 PM local time. Reaching a rotational speed of 155 knots (287 km/h) at 1:38:35 PM, it lifted off the runway approximately four seconds later. At 1:38:42 PM, as the aircraft reached its maximum recorded speed of 180 knots (330 km/h), both engines shut down after their respective fuel control switches flipped from RUN to CUTOFF, one after the other, within one second of each other. Engine power immediately began to decline, while cockpit sound recordings revealed one pilot asking the other why he had stopped refueling, to which the other replied that he had not. The report did not specify which pilot made the respective statements.

At 13:38:47, with both engines losing power, the RAT was recorded to automatically deploy, beginning to provide emergency hydraulic and electrical power. At 13:38:52, the fuel switch for engine 1 was reset to RUN, followed four seconds later by the switch for engine 2. At that point, the advanced digital engine control system (FADEC) for each engine automatically attempted to restart the engines.

By the time flight data recording was completed, at 13:39:11, engine 1 had restarted and its turbine speed was increasing, while engine 2 had restarted but its speed was unstable, with the FADEC injecting additional fuel in an attempt to regain power. The engine throttles were found to be in the idle position at the time of recovery; however, the flight data recorder showed that both throttles had been maintained at takeoff thrust until impact. The flaps had been set correctly for takeoff at 5°. The report did not identify any mechanical failures or recommend safety actions for the operators or manufacturers of the 787 or its GEnx engines. The cause of the fuel switch movements was still under investigation at the time of the report's release.

Investigators also determined that there was no significant bird activity in the vicinity that day, ruling out the possibility of a bird strike.

The Causes

The causes of the accident have not yet been determined by the investigations conducted. According to some reports, it appears that the aircraft's engines were shut down during takeoff. The cockpit voice recorder recorded the following exchange:

"Why did you shut down the engines?" the F/O. communicates.

"I didn't," the captain replies.