The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday the fatal Air India crash that resulted in at least 260 deaths does not appear to have been caused by a mechanical issue or inadvertent movement of the fuel control unit or switches.
“We can say with a high level of confidence is it doesn’t appear to be a mechanical issue with the Boeing fuel control unit,” Bryan Bedford, the FAA’s administrator, told reporters, according to Reuters.
“We feel very comfortable that this isn’t an issue with inadvertent manipulation of fuel control,” he added.
“The probe into the Air India crash, which killed 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground, is focused on the fuel control switches of the Boeing 787 jetliner,” Breaking Aviation News & Videos wrote.
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday the fatal crash last month of Air India flight 171 does not appear to have been caused by a mechanical issue or inadvertent movement of the fuel control unit or switches.
"We can say with a high level of confidence… pic.twitter.com/mEeU0P2dxN
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 25, 2025
A preliminary report earlier this month suggested the fuel was cut off to both engines of the plane seconds after takeoff.
Preliminary Report Reveals SHOCKING Details From Air India Crash That Killed At Least 270
Reuters has more:
The switches control fuel flow to aircraft engines, allowing pilots to start or shut them down on the ground, or manually intervene during in-flight engine failures.
Air India said on Tuesday it has completed precautionary inspections of the fuel control switch locking mechanism on all 787 and 737 aircraft, with no issues detected.
A preliminary report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau earlier this month found the switches had almost simultaneously flipped from "run" to "cutoff" shortly after takeoff, causing the engines to lose power.
Reuters reported last week, citing a source, that the cockpit recording on the Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick suggested the captain cut fuel to the engines.
In other news related to the tragedy, multiple families of victims reportedly received the wrong remains from the crash site.
Multiple families were sent the wrong bodies after Air India disaster: report https://t.co/ojokcmXWe7 pic.twitter.com/ONi2L6Dats
— New York Post (@nypost) July 23, 2025
More from news.com.au:
Families of UK residents killed in last month’s Air India disaster have been sent the wrong bodies in repatriation blunders.
The Daily Mail reports that at least two cases of mistaken identity had come to light, with one family having to abandon a funeral after being informed their coffin contained an unknown body.
In another case, a coffin contained “co-mingled” remains of more than one person killed in the flight 171 crash at Ahmedabad in western India on June 12.
The scandal has sparked top-level inquiries in both the UK and India, the Mail reports, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to raise concerns with counterpart Narendra Modi this week.
ADVERTISEMENTThere were 52 British citizens killed among the 261 people who died after the plane lost power and crashed into a residential area soon after it lifted off to fly to London.
All but one of the 242 people on board died as well as 19 people on the ground.
Aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt has been engaged to represent UK-based people impacted by the tragedy, with the remains of 12 people repatriated so far.
“I’ve been sitting down in the homes of these lovely British families over the last month, and the first thing they want is their loved ones back,” he told the Mail.
“But some of them have got the wrong remains and they are clearly distraught over this.
