AI171 Crash: Both pilots were entering the plane, then something was captured in CCTV, AAIB’s eyes stopped

After the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) report on the Air India plane crash, the fog has started to clear from all those questions, about which many speculations were being made till now. One of these speculations was also about the co-pilot Clive Kundan who took off the Air India plane and the monitoring pilot Captain Sumit Sabharwal. During the investigation, AAIB got hold of a CCTV footage of Ahmedabad airport, which contained answers to all the speculations.

In fact, after the accident, speculations were being made about the duty pressure, mental state and fatigue of both the pilots. It was then said that it is possible that the pilots may have made some mistake due to fatigue, due to which the plane crashed. During the investigation, in the CCTV footage that AAIB got hold of, both the pilots are clearly seen entering the plane. In this CCTV footage, both the pilots are not seen in any kind of stress or fatigue. AAIB has mentioned in its report that both the pilots were seen arriving at the boarding gate at 12:35 pm in CCTV.

AAIB has said this about the pilot

AAIB has said in its report that the plane was to go from Ahmedabad to Gatwick (London) as flight AI171. The scheduled departure of the plane was at 1:10 pm. The pilots for this flight included an ATPL holder pilot-in-command (PIC), a CPL holder co-pilot and 10 cabin crew. Both the pilots were from Mumbai and had reached Ahmedabad a day earlier. They had taken adequate rest before the flight. Before the flight, both the pilots underwent a breath analyzer test and were found fit for the flight. After this, both proceeded to board the flight.

This is the reason for the accident given in the preliminary report

AAIB has said in its report that the fuel control switch was the reason for the plane crash. Due to the fuel control switch being off, the fuel supply to both the engines of the plane stopped. The conversation between the two pilots regarding the fuel control switch has also been mentioned in the report. It has been told in the report that Captain Sumit Sabharwal asks the co-pilot of the flight Clive Kundan why the fuel control switch was turned off. The answer was – I did not do it. After this, questions have started arising whether the co-pilot turned off the switch by mistake or it happened due to some technical fault.