When a Boeing 787 turned into a nosediving mystery machine and left a nation asking, “How does this even happen?”On June 12, 2025, Air India Flight AI-171 took off from Ahmedabad to London and never made it past the skies of Gujarat.

Within 30 seconds of takeoff, both engines of the Dreamliner lost power. The plane crashed into a medical college dormitory, killing 241 onboard and 19 on the ground. Only one soul survived.

This isn’t just a crash. It’s a riddle wrapped in jet fuel and drenched in heartbreak.

And now, the preliminary investigation report is out and let’s just say, it raises more questions than it answers.

The Fuel Wasn’t Empty. It Was Cut Off

According to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), both engine fuel control switches moved from RUN to CUT OFF shortly after takeoff.

That’s not just unusual, it’s borderline unheard of. These switches aren’t placed where elbows bump into them. They’re locked. Secured. Intentionally designed not to be easy to trigger.

Yet, they were flipped.

Cockpit voice recordings captured the chaos. One pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?”
 The other replied, “I didn’t.”

By the time they tried to restart, it was too late.

Technical Glitch or Human Error? Or... Something Worse?

Here’s the deal: the report doesn’t blame anyone yet. It doesn’t say Boeing messed up. It doesn’t say Air India skipped protocol. It doesn’t say sabotage.

But it does confirm:

  • The fuel cutoff switches were physically moved.

  • The engines did not fail on their own.

  • There was no bird strike, explosion, or weather issue.

So we’re left hanging between possibilities:

  • Mechanical failure? Highly unlikely, given the switch design.

  • Pilot error? Possible, but both were experienced, ex-Air Force flyers.

  • Deliberate action? Not ruled out.

  • Sabotage or unknown tampering? Still on the table.

The FAA Warned Us in 2018. India Didn’t Act.

Yep. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a service bulletin in 2018 warning that under rare circumstances, the locking mechanism on the fuel switches could fail.

But because it wasn’t a mandatory Airworthiness Directive, India didn’t enforce it.

Was this the moment we played roulette with aviation safety? Or was this just a red herring?

One Miracle. Hundreds of Heartaches.

Only one person survived the crash.

Everyone else, from young medical students in the dormitory to entire families heading to London, perished in a tragedy so sudden, it didn't give time for a distress call.

What Happens Now?

The final report is due by mid-September, and it’s expected to dig into:

  • Forensics of the engine system

  • Internal cockpit interactions

  • Whether Boeing’s design had a loophole

  • If the checklist culture in Indian aviation is failing us

Meanwhile, Air India is rechecking its entire Dreamliner fleet. Boeing and GE are involved. The FAA and NTSB are watching closely.

But until more answers come in, we’re stuck with the haunting reality: a modern aircraft dropped from the sky not because it failed but because someone or something told it to stop flying.

The Sky Isn’t the Limit if You Don’t Ask Questions

This wasn’t just an aviation incident. It was a systems failure in design, in accountability, and maybe in honesty.

In an age where autopilots run better than most governments, how do engines just stop? Why wasn’t that FAA warning taken seriously? And most chilling if no one flipped the switches... who did?

If you fly, you should care. If you regulate, you should act. If you grieve, we stand with you.