In an interview with News X, veteran pilot Pete Hutchison, with 42 years of flying experience and 20,000+ flight hours, reacted to the Air India 171 crash preliminary report. He questioned the plausibility of both fuel control switches moving within a second and urges Boeing to re-examine its system safety across the 787 fleet.
Captain Pete Hutchinson, who has flown the Boeing 787, said they have been moved by one of the members of the crew on the flight deck. We don’t even know there was a third pilot on the flight deck.
He further said, “At least that’s the insinuation of the audio tape saying that one questioned the other. Then that person is alleged to have denied it. These aeroplanes are largely fly by wire hundreds of computers and it should not be discounted that one possible explanation.”
There was some sort of software or electrical glitch. So we shouldn’t run away with the idea that it is malpractice or unprofessionalism or some deliberate act or start pointing the finger at someone, he added.
Reacting to a question that “cutting off the fuel supply to the engines through this switch is even possible,” Captain Pete said they have double protection on them. They’re spring-loaded, so you have to pull them out, and you also have to get them over what looks like the side profile of two mountains.”
He said that well! If you go back to the very first day of flying, there was no rule book. There was no training manual. There was no flight crew operating manual. These are the documents that pilots swear by, learn their stock and trade by, and continually refer to every accident and unfortunately, there have been and I dare say there will be more because nothing is perfect.
What Was the Air India Tragedy?
The Air India crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, was one of the darkest moments in India’s aviation history. Flight AI171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed into a hostel building just seconds after take-off, leaving 241 people dead onboard and 19 more killed on the ground. Only one person survived.
The preliminary report released on July 12, 2025, by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) shows pilot confusion over engine switch movement. The Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) of India has expressed displeasure over the report suggesting a bias towards a pilot mistake. The pilot body said that they categorically reject this presumption and insist on a “fair, fact-based inquiry”.
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