“Why did you cut off the fuel?”- Cockpit voice recorder reveals one pilot asking the other before Air India flight crashed

More details are emerging about the circumstances that led to the crash of a London-bound passenger flight of Air India last month, claiming over 241 lives.

Investigators have been able to unravel the cockpit voice recorder, and the final moment exchange between the two pilots in charge of the ill-fated flight is adding a new layer of mystery to the investigation.

It would be recalled that the Air India flight went down a few minutes after takeoff on June 12, 2025, claiming the lives of the passengers and crew on board and 19 others on the ground in Gujarat’s Meghani Nagar district, India.

A preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), just released, includes cockpit voice recordings revealing the final exchange between the pilots of the ill-fated Air India flight.

One pilot can be heard asking the other, “Why did you cut off the fuel?”. The other one responded swiftly with, “I didn’t.”

Time stamps indicated that this exchange was after the pilots had already radioed the control tower that they were in trouble.

“Thrust not achieved… falling… Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!”, one of the pilots had called out.

What is generally known about the flight so far is that it suddenly lost power at an altitude of just 625 feet.

With faltering thrust, it rapidly lost the little altitude it had gained and then crashed into a residential area, including the BJ Medical College hostel.

It then exploded, making it impossible to have survivors, save the Briton who unhooked his seat belt once the plane crashed and escaped through an opening on the fuselage.

The freshly unearthed conversation between the pilots now points to a possible reason for the sudden power loss of the aircraft.

It is believed that the engine fuel cutoff switches flipped from RUN to CUTOFF within one second of each other, leading to the engines being starved of fuel.

Experts believe it is highly unlikely for this to have happened accidentally because the switches are mechanically protected to prevent unintentional activation.

Each of the switches has to be lifted and flipped individually, and they are additionally guarded by brackets.

A U.S.-based aviation safety expert, John Cox, said of the switches, “You can’t bump them and they move. Accidental engagement is extremely rare.”

Preliminary findings indicate that there are no faults with the aircraft or its General Electric engines.

Records show that the aircraft had taken off with 54,200 kg of fuel, which was well within safe operational limits.

Analysis of the fuel sample also showed that there was nothing unusual in it.

The investigators also established that the aircraft achieved a top speed of 180 knots before engine failure began.

It was also established that the two pilots, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal (10,000+ flying hours) and Co-pilot Clive Kunder (3,400+ hours), were fully rested and passed pre-flight checks.

Forensic evidence established that the thrust levers were still in the forward position upon impact, and both fuel control switches were found in the RUN position at the crash site.

CCTV cameras at the airport captured the Ram Air Turbine deploying just after takeoff, a sign of severe power loss.

It was also discovered that the left wing and landing gear collided with Buildings C and D, while the aircraft’s tail and right main landing gear struck Building A.

The nose of the aircraft was later located 307 feet southwest of the initial impact zone.

Investigators are now exploring whether a fault in the aircraft’s electronic control unit could have triggered the shutdown remotely.

Capt Kishore Chinta, a former AAIB investigator, questioned whether the switches could have been electronically tripped without pilot input.