Air India Flight 171

Air India Flight 171 was an international passenger flight operated by Indian flag carrier Air India from Ahmedabad Airport in India to London Gatwick Airport in United Kingdom. On 12 June 2025, at 13:39 IST a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating the flight crashed into the boys hostel of B.J Medical College thirty seconds after takeoff. All 12 crew members and 229 of 230 passengers on board, as well as 19 people on the ground were killed.^[2] It was the first fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.^[3]

Air India started flight from Ahmedabad Airport to London Gatwick Airport in March 2023. The flight was popular with people visiting family and friends. It was also used by people traveling for medical care.^[4] The flight was usually almost full.

The airplane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered as VT-ANB first flew on 11 December 2013. Air India got it new on 28 January 2014.^[5] It had two General Electric GEnx-1B67 engines.^[6]: 4–5 It was assembled at the Boeing Everett Factory, including some fuselage sections made at the Boeing South Carolina facility, and delivered to Air India in January 2014.^[7] A check of the plane on 4 May 2025 found no big problems. But later, a check by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) found that Air India had not fixed some small problems on its 787 planes, including some with fuel pumps.^[8]

• Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, age 56. He had 15,638 hours of flying experience. 8,596 of these hours were in the Boeing 787. He was an instructor who taught other pilots how to fly the 787.^[9]
• First Officer Clive Kundar, age 32. He had 3,403 hours of flying experience. 1,128 of these hours were in the 787. He started working for Air India in 2022.^[9]

There were also 10 cabin crew members. All of them had finished their regular 787 training in May 2025.

This table shows what happened during the flight. The information comes from the plane's flight recorders, or "black boxes".^[10]

The student building was a four-floor building made of strong concrete. 220 students and doctors lived there. The right wing of the plane cut through the dining room on the top floor during lunch time.^[12] Fuel from the broken plane tanks started a very big fire. The fire burned for almost six hours.^[13]

The crash killed all but one of the 242 people aboard the aircraft and 19 on the ground. At least 60 were also injured on the ground. By 13 June, police officials said that six bodies had been released to their families. Among the casualties was Vijay Rupani, the former Chief Minister of Gujarat (2016–2021), whose body was identified through DNA identification. The intense heat of the crash, which had reached an estimated 1,500 °C (2,700 °F), hindered DNA collection and testing. By 28 June 2025, DNA tests had confirmed the identities of all 260 fatalities.^[15][16]

A 40-year-old British citizen, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, sitting in seat 11A next to an emergency exit was the only survivor of the crash. Ramesh said that the section of the aircraft where he was seated detached and came to rest on the ground floor of the hostel, and that he escaped through an opening created by the emergency exit breaking open. He was recorded on video walking away from the crash by himself, and then being led to an ambulance. Doctors said that Ramesh was in stable condition with minor injuries, including burns to his left hand, and was released from hospital after five days. His brother, who had been sitting across on the same row, didn't survive.^[17]

At least 50 medical students from the hostel buildings were hospitalised. The dean of the college said that "most of the students escaped, but 10 or 12 were trapped in the fire".^[18]

More than 450 rescue workers from agencies including the National Disaster Response Force, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, and Indian Army arrived at the crash site in 15 minutes.^[19][20][21] They found the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR), the plane's "black boxes", by 13 June.^[22]

India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is leading the investigation. Experts from the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing, and engine maker GE are helping.^[23][24]

On 8th July, AAIB Published preliminary report of the incident with it's initial fidings.

The aircraft took 62 seconds to speed up for takeoff, lifted its nose at 155 knots (about 287 km/h) and left the ground 4 seconds later at 13:38:39 IST. Three seconds after takeoff, when it reached its top recorded speed of 180 knots (about 330 km/h), both fuel control switches were moved from RUN to CUTOFF, one after the other, 1 second apart. This shut down both engines immediately, cutting off all thrust. Airport CCTV showed no birds in the flight path, and the aircraft started losing height before it even left the airport area.

In the cockpit recording, one pilot asked the other why he had “cut off”, and the other replied, “I did not”. The report didn’t say which pilot said what. Data showed that the ram air turbine (RAT) automatically came out 5 seconds after the first switch moved, giving emergency power. About 10 seconds later, the first switch was moved back to RUN, and 4 seconds after that, the second one was also set back to RUN. The aircraft’s engine control system (FADEC) then tried to restart both engines.

About 9 seconds later, one pilot called “mayday” saying they had lost thrust. Air traffic control asked for the flight’s call sign, but got no answer. The recordings ended 6 seconds after the mayday, which was 32 seconds after takeoff, at 13:39:11. By then, the first engine had restarted and was speeding up, while the second engine had also restarted but was still struggling to gain power.

The report also mentioned that in 2018, the FAA had warned about similar fuel switches on some Boeing 737s that had safety locks disabled. Air India had not done the recommended checks because they weren’t mandatory. The plane’s maintenance records showed the throttle control module was replaced in 2019 and 2023 for unrelated reasons, and no problems with fuel switches were reported.

After the crash, the throttle levers were found in the idle position, but data showed they had been at full takeoff power until impact. The flap settings were correct for takeoff at 5 degrees. The report found no mechanical problems and gave no new safety advice for Boeing 787s or their GEnx engines.^[25]

Since the preliminary report of Air India 171 was released, there have been accusations that Boeing has been covering up details of the crash as the preliminary report has “unfounded information”.^[26]

• On 21 June, the DGCA gave Air India 15 days to explain why it had safety problems. The DGCA also ordered checks on all of Air India's 33 Boeing 787s.^[27]
• Air India's owner, Tata Group, said it would give ₹1 crore to the family of each person who died.^[28]
• The flight numbers AI 171 and AI 172 will not be used again. The flight to London Gatwick was set to resume with a new flight number.^[29]

The crash ended the Boeing 787's 14-year record of no fatal accidents.^[3] People also looked again at problems with how Boeing makes its planes.^[30]

• Mandala Airlines Flight 091 – A 2005 crash in Indonesia where many people on the ground were killed
• Spanair Flight 5022 – A 2008 crash where the pilots did not set the flaps correctly for take-off
• List of accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 787