So, so many poorly informed people in here jumping to conclusions, many of which were already ruled out in the preliminary report.
I don’t know any more than what’s in that document myself.
Perhaps some of the armchair aircraft safety investigators in here might want to at least skim the details before coming up with wild theories? Or at least provide reasoning and evidence to support them.
May those who lost their lives, and their loved ones, find peace and closure as best they can once we have all the details. Until then, it would be crass to speculate, especially as non-experts not privvy to the details of the investigation.
If I remember correctly, those switches need to be physically lifted up and rotated for the engines to switch from RUN to CUTOFF. there’s also physical guards there to prevent pilots from knocking them. here’s a diagram of the layout (source).
I’ve read theories that the pilot who manipulated the fuel switches could’ve mistook them for the stabiliser cutout switch but the switches are very different. the timing is also sus because it would’ve been at just the right time for things to have not been recoverable. 10 seconds earlier and the takeoff could’ve been aborted, 10 seconds later and the plane could’ve had enough altitude and speed to land in a safer area. also the way the pilot reacted to the other pilot suggests he saw the other pilot shut off the fuel to both engines one after the other and was in a state of shock
They lift up over a gate and you move them down to shut off, rather than turning. There’s no guard over them though. They’re not really close to any other switches you’d be manipulating at any time, especially right after takeoff, and they are a different shape than any other switch (Boeing likes to shape their switches differently so that if you grab the wrong one you’ll feel it). I cannot imagine how one could accidentally move one, let alone both switches do cutoff. But sometimes my brain does inexplicably dumb shit, so I dunno.
by guards I meant the guard brackets which help prevent accidental movement (source) but I agree I just can’t see this being done accidentally. the look and feel of the switches are just so different it’d be almost like mistaking a red light for a green one with normal colour vision or something. it’s still early days so i’m sure more will come out about the history of the pilots with time. if this does turn out to be intentional it’s pretty scary because it’s something that’s unrecoverable at that phase of flight if it happens and that needs to not happen again
Oh, ya, ok. Those guards are really more to stop you whacking the side of the switches and breaking the plastic lens and lightbulbs in the top of the switch, but because the switches move up and down and not side to side, those brackets really have no impact on the actual moving of the switches, accidental or otherwise.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/11/india/air-india-crash-report-intl-latam
This article has a photo of the switches in question, and goes into more detail about how they work.
Apparently they need to be pulled to change their orientation, I’m wondering if the mechanism simply wore out?
Not likely. These things are checked before every flight.
Dude. It’s Air India.
Never take Air India.
If that does not take away from the fact that these Pilots were very well skilled.
If the company is at fault it’s due to over scheduling since preliminary report indicates no mechanical failures.
Skilled yes, but apparently concealing a mental health issue. This is a huge cultural issue in aviation. Nobody wants to lose their job, so you just bury it.
There’s absolutely no proof that these Pilots were suicidal. I think speculation of such is disrespectful until further evidence shows such things such as in the case of MH 370 which is highly speculated with a lot of evidence to be a pilot suicide.
Nineteen people died on the ground.
Technically 260 people died on the ground. Because that is where the plane crashed.
However, nineteen people on the ground died.
There is a critical difference in that word order. The former includes everyone who had reached the ground by the time they died, the latter only includes those who were on the ground to begin with, and not those who were on the plane.
Or in other words, the first phrasing highlights destination, the second highlights source. Everyone died on the ground after the plane impacted it, but only 19 were already on the ground when the impact killed them.
The placement of the word “died” is what makes all the difference.
Isn’t English fun?
Please delete your account
