Pilot Saw Switch Moved But Waited 10 Seconds? Expert Tears Into Theory Of 'deliberate' Air India Crash

Aviation master Captain Ehsan Khalid has formed superior uncertainty connected theories suggesting deliberate sabotage by nan cockpit unit successful nan June 12 Air India Dreamliner crash, citing information that he says points to a apt electrical malfunction. 

He argues that nan cockpit sound recorder (CVR) timeline and move behaviour contradict nan declare that a aviator intentionally unopen down nan engines.

The Air India Boeing 787-8, flying from Ahmedabad to London, collapsed conscionable 32 seconds aft takeoff, sidesplitting 260. Preliminary findings from nan Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) revealed that nan substance switches for some engines moved from “run” to “cutoff” wrong 1 2nd astatine 08:08:42 UTC, prompting speculation from immoderate Western outlets that 1 of nan pilots whitethorn person intentionally killed nan engines.

But successful a elaborate question and reply pinch journalist Barkha Dutt, Capt. Khalid dismantled that theory. “Let’s look astatine nan CVR,” he said. “The paraphrased statement is: ‘Why did you trim disconnected nan engine?’ That indicates 1 aviator saw nan action. So if nan switch-off was visible astatine 42 seconds, why did nan personification who saw it hold 10 seconds to reverse it?”

He pointed to nan adjacent captious timestamps: motor 1 was restarted astatine 08:08:52 and motor 2 astatine 08:08:56—a afloat 14 seconds aft nan first cutoff. “You’re successful a dying aircraft. Every 2nd matters. Why hold 10 seconds to act, past return 4 much to complete nan relight?” Khalid asked.

According to him, nan four-second span to bring nan switches backmost proves nan switches were not already successful “cutoff.” “If nan switches were already off, you would conscionable move them backmost to ‘run’ successful 2 seconds. But taking 4 seconds suggests you had to rhythm each one—run to cutoff to run,” he explained.

This timeline, Khalid argues, straight undermines claims of deliberate sabotage. “No aviator trying to prevention a crashing level delays action by 10 seconds and past takes 4 seconds to do thing that should return two,” he said.

Instead, he projected a different scenario: an electrical malfunction. “If nan electrical strategy had already transitioned to zero—interpreting nan switches arsenic ‘off’—then nan recorder wouldn’t registry immoderate aviator input. Only erstwhile nan switches were manually moved backmost to ‘run’ would nan strategy admit caller commands,” he explained.

Khalid added that this anomaly could besides impact different systems, for illustration nan engine’s physics power channels. “When they moved nan move backmost to ‘run,’ it whitethorn person triggered an soul strategy change—too precocious to prevention nan flight.”

In his view, nan CVR quote—“I didn’t do it”—supports this. “They were responding to failure, not causing it,” Khalid concluded. “The timeline doesn’t support intent. It shows guidance nether pressure, delayed by disorder aliases strategy behavior—not by design.”

Published on: Jul 20, 2025 9:47 AM IST