A forensics team on June 14, 2025 examines the tail of the Air India aircraft that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
Both engines of Air India’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft involved in a crash last month shut down shortly after take off according to the Air Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report into the June 12 air crash that killed at least 260, including 12 crew members.
Seconds after the Air India aircraft took off from Ahmedabad for Gatwick on June 12, the fuel cut off switches of both the engines “transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec,” says the report. This occurred 65 seconds after the aircraft started rolling for take off from the runway.
Read the AAIB report here
At this time the cockpit voice recording showed that one of the pilots asked the other why did he cutoff fuel supply to the engines to which the other pilot responded that he had not done so.
Thirty seconds later, one of the pilots transmitted “MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY” – the distress signal used to indicate a life-threatening emergency. Though the air traffic control officer enquired about the call sign to identify the flight, he didn’t get any response but observed the aircraft crashing outside the airport boundary at 13.39 p.m.
Thereafter, emergency response was activated. Six minutes later, the crash fire tender left the airport premises for rescue and firefighting.
The report says that as per the CCTV footage obtained from the airport the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) got deployed during the initial climb immediately after lift-off. A RAT is a backup power source in aircraft, designed to deploy automatically in the event of a dual-engine failure or other catastrophic power loss.
Though there was an advisory on December 17, 2018 from the U.S. aviation regulator FAA regarding the potential disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature, the report says that according to Air India the suggested inspections were not carried out as the FAA bulletin was an advisory and did not need mandatory action.
The AAIB scrutinised the maintenance records and found that there was no defect reported to the fuel control switch since 2023 on this aircraft when the specific section of the cockpit control panel (throttle control module) was last replaced on the aircraft.
The report also adds that there was no significant bird activity in the vicinity of the flight path.
The aircraft started to lose altitude before crossing the airport perimeter wall.
The report states that at this time there is no recommended actions to either the B787-8 aircraft or the type of engine installed on it, i.e. GE GEnx-1B engine.
“Investigation is continuing and the investigation team will review and examine additional evidence, records and information that is being sought from the stakeholders,” states the report.
A preliminary report doesn’t typically reveal the cause of an accident but provides the details of the flight involved in the accident. International norms require that such a report is submitted within 30 days of a crash.
Published – July 12, 2025 02:23 on is
