In a heart-stopping revelation that has rocked the aviation world, a leaked cockpit voice recording from Air India Flight 171 has surfaced, capturing the co-pilot’s desperate whisper, “Not me,” at the precise moment the fuel cutoff switches were engaged, sending the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner into a catastrophic plunge. The crash, which occurred on June 12, 2025, just 32 seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killed 260 people—241 of the 242 aboard and 19 on the ground—making it India’s deadliest aviation disaster in decades. Investigators have frozen the tape at the exact millisecond the plane’s altitude began to plummet, raising haunting questions about what—or who—caused the fuel to be cut off, triggering a chain of events that ended in tragedy.

The doomed Місяць: doomed flight, bound for London Gatwick, carried 230 passengers and 12 crew members, including Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder. The preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), released on July 8, 2025, revealed that both fuel control switches moved from “run” to “cutoff” just seconds after liftoff, starving the engines of fuel and causing an immediate loss of thrust. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) captured a tense exchange: one pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?” to which the other replied, “I did not do so.” The leaked audio, first reported by Indian media outlets like The New Indian Express, now adds a chilling detail: Kunder’s whispered “Not me” at 13:38:42 IST (08:08:42 UTC), precisely when the switches flipped, as confirmed by the enhanced airborne flight recorder (EAFR). This moment, frozen by investigators, aligns with the plane’s rapid descent from 650 feet.

The mystery deepens with the question of how the switches were moved. Located on the cockpit’s center console, the fuel control switches require a deliberate action: lifting and shifting from “run” to “cutoff,” a maneuver typically performed only after landing. Aviation experts, like former FAA inspector Michael Daniel, argue that accidental movement is highly unlikely due to the switches’ design. “You don’t just bump these switches,” Daniel told Bloomberg. “The 10 seconds that followed were crucial—the plane was too low and too slow to recover.” The AAIB report noted that the switches were flipped back to “run” at 13:38:52 IST, triggering an automatic engine relight, but only one engine partially restarted before the plane crashed into the B.J. Medical College hostel, sparking a fire that ravaged five buildings.

Speculation has swirled around the pilots’ actions. Captain Sabharwal, with 15,638 flight hours, was monitoring, while First Officer Kunder, with 3,403 hours, was flying. The leaked audio has fueled theories of human error, intentional sabotage, or a mechanical fault. Some reports, like one from The Wall Street Journal, cite U.S. officials’ early assessments suggesting the captain may have flipped the switches, though no formal document confirms this. Kunder’s “Not me” plea points to confusion or denial in the cockpit, but without video evidence, investigators can’t definitively pinpoint who acted. The AAIB has criticized “irresponsible” media speculation, with NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy calling such reports “premature” on X, urging restraint until the final report, expected within a year.

Adding intrigue, a 2018 FAA advisory flagged a potential flaw in the fuel control switch locking mechanism on some Boeing planes, including the 787. Air India did not conduct the recommended inspections, as they were not mandatory. However, the AAIB found no mechanical defects in the aircraft, which had 41,868 hours and recently installed General Electric GEnx-1B engines. Another theory points to a cockpit seat malfunction, as reported by newstvseries.com. Captain Sabharwal’s cry of “My seat!” at 18 seconds into the flight suggests a faulty seat pin may have caused unintended contact with the thrust levers or switches, echoing a 2024 LATAM Airlines incident where a seat movement triggered a dive.

The crash’s aftermath has been profound. The sole survivor, Vishwaskumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national, is recovering, while the Tata Group and Air India have pledged ₹1 crore (£85,000) per victim’s family and established the AI-171 Memorial and Welfare Trust. Boeing and GE Aerospace are assisting the investigation, with CEO Kelly Ortberg vowing to prevent future tragedies. India’s DGCA mandated inspections of Air India’s 33 Boeing 787s, clearing 26 by June 19, 2025, and canceling 66 flights for safety checks. The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association has condemned “reckless” blame on the crew, demanding a transparent probe.

As investigators analyze the CVR’s ambient sounds—alarms, the seat sliding, and the pilots’ frantic reactions—the world awaits answers. Was it a tragic error, a design flaw, or something more sinister? The frozen millisecond of Kunder’s whisper holds the key to unraveling a disaster that has left families, experts, and the aviation industry grappling for closure. For now, the haunting audio serves as a grim reminder: in those fleeting seconds, an ordinary flight became a catastrophe.