Air India Flight 171 Crash: Cockpit Audio Of Pilots, First Officer 'Panicking' - New Details Revealed

2025-07-17 09:00:54

(MENAFN- Live Mint) New details have emerged in the Air India plane crash tragedy, revealing the conversation between the two pilots in the cockpit of the flight 171 just before the Ahmedabad-London flight came crashing down on June 12. A report by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the early findings of the US investigation, revealed“Blackbox recording of dialogue" between captain Sumeet Sabharwal and first officer Clive Kunder, revealing for the first time who said what in the flight deck.

The exchange was first mentioned in last week's preliminary report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Without revealing much, the report depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before the tragedy. The report had shown two fuel switches in the cockpit were moved to“cut-off”, causing the Air India flight 171 to lose lift and crash 32 seconds after takeoff.

FIRST OFFICER 'PANICKED', OTHER REMAINED 'CALM'

According to the WSJ report citing the audio recording, the first officer, expressing surprise, asked the senior pilot why he moved the switches to“cutoff”. He, then, panicked.

“While the captain [the experienced one] seemed to remain calm.”

The preliminary report had mentioned the exchange between the two pilots inside the cockpit minutes before the Air India plane crash but did not specify who said what.“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff," the interim report said.

The other pilot had denied turning off the switches, according to the AAIB. "The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” it said.

The WSJ report reveals that it was first officer who asked the captain why he moved the switches to“cutoff”, according to the people who asked not to be identified.

The initial findings have led some US officials to believe that the case warrants a review by criminal authorities, the publication said.

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