Air India Boeing 787-8 Aircraft: Captain Ross Rusty Aimer Feels That Some Questions Are Unanswered About Ahmedabad Plane Crash

It has been a month since the tragic crash of the Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI 171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. Now, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has released a preliminary report regarding this incident in the public domain, that points out how the switches of both engines were had transitioned from run to cut off within seconds of take off. To give a more detailed explanation on this issue, Captain Ross Rusty Aimer joined in an exclusive on the NewsX channel with senior editor Uday Pratap Singh. 

Impossible for the switches to cut off on their own

Captain Ross is one of the most experienced pilots in the world with over 60 years and 34,000 hours of worldwide heavy jet experience. When asked about his take on the preliminary report, Captain Ross said that some questions are unanswered despite the release of the preliminary report. According to him, it is impossible for the switches to move from run to cut off on their own. He said that the design of the switches prevents them from bumping accidentally. Captain Ross said that either someone had deliberately turned those switches to cut off or they were doing a memory item from a checklist that is for the dual engine failure. 

Switches could have vibrated themselves to off position

Captain Ross contemplated on another rare possibility that the switches had vibrated themselves into the off position. According to his opinion, the co-pilot was handling the control wheel and didn’t touch those switches. Ross said that either the Captain turned those switches off, then turned them own or they vibrated off. As per Ross, this is why someone can be heard saying,  ”Why did you turn off the fuel control switches?” He suspects it was the co-pilot asking the captain that why did he turned off the fuel control switches to which the captain replied that he did not. Ross, however, added that either the captain turned the fuel control switches to off or he did not. This is why, he said that the attention should be paid to every possibility including a possibility of those switches failing on their own. 

Also read: Air India Plane Crash: Airline Pilots’ Association Questions AAIB Report, Demands ‘Fair, Fact-Based Enquiry’