The AI 171 crash – Was it a ‘Pilot Error”?

By Ajay Prakash on June 20, 2025 • ( 0 )

The crash of Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, on June 12, 2025, shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, India, is still under investigation, and no definitive cause has been confirmed. While pilot error is one of the potential factors being examined, the evidence given in this episode points to anything but a pilot error.

Whatever happened to the aircraft that day occurred as the plane rolled down the runway. The pilots crossed the V1 stage and had no option but to get airborne. The situation suggests a problem with the aircraft that arose during takeoff. The pilots did not get time to react.

The data shown here comes from Flightradar24. The June 12th flight, AI171, is compared with the same flight on June 9th, June 10th, and June 11th.

The data shows that the pilots were not at fault. All those comments regarding mistaking the flap lever with the landing gear lever are speculative and the least probable. Something went wrong with the aircraft as it started its takeoff roll. The data suggest that the pilot did not have enough time to even react to the issues.

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