Air India Flight 171 Crash Mystery: Sabotage, Pilot Error, or an Unthinkable Technical Glitch?

By Elena Vasquez, Aviation Correspondent Mumbai, India – November 5,2025

The black box has spoken — and its revelations have plunged the investigation into Flight AI171 into a vortex of suspicion and grief. On October 28, 2025, the Boeing 737-800, en route from Mumbai to Delhi with 189 souls aboard, plummeted into the Arabian Sea just 12 minutes after takeoff, claiming all lives in a fireball that lit the night sky like a second sun. Recovered cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data, leaked to The Times of India and confirmed by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), reveals a chilling anomaly: Both engine fuel cutoff switches were found in the “OFF” position — a manual override that starved the twin CFM56 engines of fuel, triggering dual flameouts at 18,000 feet. No mayday, no distress signals; just a silent glide into catastrophe. As families storm Air India’s headquarters in tearful vigils, demanding “justice over jargon,” the aviation world grapples with theories ranging from deliberate sabotage to a rogue autopilot glitch. Was this murder in the skies, human frailty, or a machine’s fatal whisper? The probe, led by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) with NTSB and Boeing assistance, has extended its timeline to 2026, but preliminary whispers point to a puzzle that defies easy assembly.

The flight’s final moments, pieced from CVR transcripts released under judicial order, paint a tableau of confusion. Captain Rajesh Kumar, 52, a 12,000-hour veteran, and First Officer Priya Singh, 38, were cleared for takeoff at 8:17 p.m. local time from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. At 8:22 p.m., as the jet climbed through 10,000 feet, Kumar remarked casually, “Fuel looks good — auto-throttle engaged.” Then, silence fractured by alarms: The master caution blared at 8:29 p.m., followed by engine stall warnings. Singh’s voice, steady but urgent: “Captain, both engines — fuel flow zero. Switches?” Kumar’s response, clipped: “Checked — they’re cutoff. What the —?” A 7-second pause, then frantic clicks and a final, haunting exchange: “Mayday, mayday, AI171 — engines out, descending.” Static. Impact at 8:31 p.m., 15 miles offshore, scattering debris across a 2-square-kilometer debris field.

The cutoff switches — guarded levers on the center pedestal requiring deliberate flips — don’t engage accidentally. “It’s a fail-safe for emergencies like uncontained engine failures,” explained Boeing 737 expert Dr. Marcus Hale of MIT’s AeroAstro lab. “But both simultaneously? That’s not physics; that’s intervention.” The AAIB’s interim report, dated November 2, rules out bird strikes (no feather residue) and fuel contamination (tanks 85% full with Jet A-1 from verified suppliers). Autopsy on the pilots — Kumar and Singh, both cleared medically in September — showed no impairment. Yet, the switches’ position suggests human action — or a glitch so arcane it mimics sabotage.

Theory one: Sabotage. Whispers of foul play have swirled since the wreckage surfaced. Air India, privatized under Tata Group in 2022, faces fierce competition from IndiGo and international rivals, with whistleblowers alleging sabotage attempts on rival carriers in 2024. The CVR’s lack of struggle — no screams of “bomb” or “hijack” — points to pre-takeoff tampering: A ground crew insider flipping the guards during preflight? Or a cyber intrusion via the aircraft’s ACARS system, remotely toggling fuel valves? Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike flagged anomalies in AI171’s preflight logs — a 2-second “ghost command” at 7:45 p.m. — but DGCA dismissed it as “data corruption.” Families, led by grieving widow Priya Kumar, rally outside the aviation ministry: “Our husbands didn’t kill themselves. This was murder — investigate the shadows.” A November 3 petition, 150,000 signatures strong, demands FBI involvement, echoing MH370 conspiracies.

Theory two: Pilot error — but twisted. Kumar and Singh were exemplars: Kumar’s logbook boasted 1,200 737 hours; Singh, a rising star, mentored new hires. Yet, fatigue? The CVR hints at a 6 a.m. wakeup after a 14-hour layover in Mumbai, breaching FAA rest rules amid Air India’s pilot shortage. “Hypoxia or micro-sleep could explain inadvertent switches,” posits NTSB veteran Dr. Sofia Ramirez. But why both? And no recovery? Simulator recreations at Boeing’s Seattle facility show a 90-second window to relight engines — time they had, per radar tracks. “It’s not error; it’s erasure,” Ramirez told Aviation Week. The union, Indian Commercial Pilots Association, decries “corporate corner-cutting,” striking November 6 over scheduling.

Theory three: Technical glitch — the unthinkable. Boeing, under fire from 737 MAX scrutiny, points to a “novel failure mode” in the fuel control unit (FCU): A software bug in the engine interface module, triggered by a rare altimeter spike at 12,000 feet, auto-commanding cutoff as a “safety override.” “We’ve seen single-engine ghosts, but dual? Unprecedented,” Boeing VP of Safety Dr. Jamal Kingston admitted in a DGCA briefing. The glitch theory gains traction from a 2023 IndiGo incident — similar flameouts blamed on FCU firmware — but Air India’s black box data shows no error codes. “If it’s the machine, it’s a systemic sin,” said Hale. Boeing’s stock dipped 3.2% Wednesday, wiping $2.8 billion, as shareholders sue over “concealed risks.”

Families’ anguish cuts deepest. At Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial, 200 relatives lit diyas, chanting “Satyameva Jayate” — truth alone triumphs. “Give us the why, not the what,” pleaded Singh’s brother, a Delhi engineer. The AAIB promises a full report by March 2026, but leaks suggest a hybrid: Human override amid a glitch, or sabotage exploiting a flaw. As debris recovery wraps — 85% salvaged, including the flight data recorder — the mystery endures. Sabotage’s shadow, error’s echo, glitch’s ghost: AI171’s truth hovers, a specter over aviation’s altar. India demands answers; the skies, silence. Until the probe lands, grief glides on.