A year after Air India Flight 171 crashed into a medical college campus shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad, killing 260 people, investigators still cannot say with certainty why the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fell from the sky. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau says analysis of flight recorder data, aircraft systems, engine components, maintenance records and human factors is continuing.
A preliminary report published last year said the fuel-control switches moved to cut-off seconds after take-off, starving both engines of fuel. That finding has driven an intense debate. Some pilots, safety campaigners and victims’ families say the cockpit has been blamed too quickly. Others argue that the switch movement points to human action in the flight deck, not a mechanical failure.
The inquiry also remains focused on the Ram Air Turbine, the aircraft’s backup power source, and on the engines’ loss of thrust. The 2013-built Boeing 787-8 had a valid certificate of airworthiness and was current on maintenance, while its GE Aerospace GEnx engines were within their expected service life. Yet the exact sequence in the final seconds is still unclear. Investigators may need to match cockpit voice recordings with engine data, including exhaust gas temperature, before a clearer picture emerges.
