The Air India Plane Cra h Pilot: Sabharwal & Kunder

When a routine domestic flight turns into one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent memory, the first question everyone asks is: who was flying the plane? In July 2025, Air India Flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad, killing 279 people, and the two pilots at the center of the tragedy — Captain Sumit Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder — have become the focus of an investigation that is as murky as it is urgent.

Flight number: Air India Flight 171 ·
Date of crash: July 2025 ·
Fatalities: 260 onboard and 19 on ground ·
Captain: Sumit Sabharwal ·
First Officer: Clive Kunder ·
Investigative finding: Fuel switches turned off manually

Seven key facts define what investigators have established so far — each carrying consequences for families, the airline, and the global aviation industry.

Who Were the Air India Pilots on Flight 171?

Who is Captain Sumit Sabharwal?

• Captain Sumit Sabharwal was a veteran pilot with Air India, having logged thousands of hours on Boeing aircraft (The Independent).
• He was the senior captain assigned to Flight 171 on the day of the crash.
• His father, Pushkar Sabharwal, stated at the funeral that his son’s last words were recorded on the cockpit voice recorder.
• According to The Independent’s report on preliminary AAIB findings, initially built with a distinguished career, the investigation has centered on the possibility that he deliberately moved the fuel switches to the “cutoff” position about three seconds after takeoff.
• A November 2025 court ruling cleared Sabharwal of blame in one legal case, but the judgment did not address the crash investigation directly.

The implication: Even senior pilots with clean records can become unknowing central figures in accident investigations — the evidence against or for them must come from cockpit data and testimony, not reputation.

Who is First Officer Clive Kunder?

• First Officer Clive Kunder held a commercial pilot license issued in 2020 and was flying as the co-pilot on this flight (The Independent).
• The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported that Kunder was at the controls during takeoff and at the time of the crash (The Independent citing WSJ).
• The cockpit voice recorder captured Kunder reportedly asking Sabharwal why he had cut off the fuel — a split-second exchange that may be the last known dialogue on the flight deck.
• Kunder also perished in the crash, alongside all passengers and crew.
• There is no public information about his marital status, father, or religion, as media coverage has focused squarely on Sabharwal.

The catch: Kunder’s relative obscurity in the public record means his role may be under-scrutinized — yet he was the one at the controls and the one who posed the critical question on the cockpit voice recorder.

Was Captain Sabharwal Sick or Facing Medical Issues?

What were the last words of pilot Sumit Sabharwal?

• According to Pushkar Sabharwal, the captain’s father, Sabharwal’s last words were captured on the cockpit voice recorder — though he did not disclose the exact phrase (The Independent).
• The preliminary AAIB report quotes one pilot denying having turned off the fuel switches, saying: “I did not turn off the fuel switches.”
• The cockpit voice recorder reportedly captured one pilot asking the other why the fuel switches had been cut off.
• This contradiction — a pilot denying the act, yet the switches having been moved — remains the central enigma of the crash.

The pattern: Last words are rarely dramatic monologues. In aviation disasters, they are often fragmented cockpit exchanges — and this case is no exception.

Doomed Air India pilot’s medical records probed amid reports of…

• Medical records of Captain Sabharwal were probed after the crash, with media reports speculating about possible health issues that could have impaired his judgment (The Independent).
• However, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson stated that both pilots passed mandatory pre-flight breathalyser tests, and there were “no observations about the pilots’ medical status” (The Independent citing internal memo/Reuters).
• Wilson warned against premature conclusions while the investigation remained ongoing.
• The full contents of Sabharwal’s medical records have not been publicly released.
• Allegations of pilot suicide emerged in media reports but remain unconfirmed by any official body.

The pattern: The medical record question remains a central point of contention, with no resolution yet.

What Caused Air India Flight 171 Crash?

Air India flight 171 crash cause

• India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) published a preliminary report that stated the aircraft’s fuel switches moved from “run” to “cutoff” about three seconds after takeoff (The Independent).
• The preliminary report did not assign blame for the crash.
• An association of Indian pilots rejected any implication in the report that pilot error caused the crash (The Independent).
• One pilot heard on the cockpit voice recorder denied switching off the fuel, according to the report.
• The crash investigation centered on the aircraft’s fuel-switch configuration and cockpit dialogue rather than an immediate public finding of sabotage or deliberate pilot action (The Independent).

The trade-off: The preliminary report is deliberately cautious — it documents data points without drawing causal conclusions. This leaves room for multiple theories but frustrates the public demand for closure.

Air India flight 171 final report

• The official final report has not yet been released as of early 2026.
• The investigation includes examination of pilot intent, possible mechanical factors, and the Boeing 787 fuel-switch design.
• Official findings are expected from the AAIB, which may take months or longer.
• In November 2025, a court cleared Captain Sabharwal of blame in a separate legal case — but this ruling was not related to the crash investigation itself.
• Air India CEO Campbell Wilson warned against premature conclusions while the investigation remained ongoing.

Is Plane Crash Death Painless?

How did someone survive a 33,000 foot fall?

• Surviving a high-altitude fall from a plane crash is extremely rare, with only a handful of documented cases in aviation history (The Independent).
• In a typical commercial jet crash at 33,000 feet, the aircraft disintegrates on impact — survival beyond that is almost unheard of without parachute deployment.
• Notable exceptions include Vesna Vulović, who survived a 33,000-foot fall in 1972 after being trapped inside a fuselage section that landed on a snowy slope.
• There have been no verified reports of anyone surviving a 33,000-foot fall from Air India Flight 171.
• The physics of such a fall — terminal velocity, impact forces, and thermal exposure at altitude — make survival astronomically unlikely.

The trade-off: The persistent fascination with surviving extreme falls often distracts from the more urgent question: what caused the crash in the first place?

Why avoid seat 11A on a plane?

• Seat 11A in many Boeing aircraft configurations is located near the overwing emergency exit, which can experience higher forces in certain crash scenarios (The Independent).
• In the Air India Flight 171 crash, seat location data has not been publicly released, but in general, seats near the rear of the aircraft have statistically higher survival rates in non-catastrophic crashes.
• Advice to avoid seat 11A is not specific to this crash and is part of a broader aviation safety discussion about seat selection.
• For a crash of this severity — a Boeing 787 hitting the ground at high speed after losing engine power — seat position made little difference to survival outcomes.

The implication: Internet lore about specific seats is largely irrelevant for crashes as catastrophic as this one, but the broader point about seat awareness is valid for smaller, survivable incidents.

What Are the Latest Updates on Air India Flight 171 Crash?

Air India plane crash update

• No new official AAIB report has been released since the preliminary findings.
• Media coverage has shifted focus to the pilots’ backgrounds and the investigation timeline.
• In November 2025, a court cleared Captain Sabharwal of blame in a legal case, but this was not a formal crash investigation ruling.

Air India crash cause update

• The central finding remains the same: fuel switches were moved to “cutoff” about three seconds after takeoff.
• Aviation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan, in an interview with NDTV, suggested the possibility of pilot suicide, but this remains speculation without official confirmation.
• The cockpit voice recorder evidence — one pilot asking why fuel was cut, the other denying doing so — has not been superseded or supplemented.
• Air India CEO Campbell Wilson warned against premature conclusions while the investigation remained ongoing.

Until the AAIB releases its final report, speculation will continue.

Timeline

• July 2025: Air India Flight 171 crashes in Ahmedabad, killing 279 people.
• July 2025: Media reports identify pilots Sabharwal and Kunder.
• July 2025: Reports emerge that fuel switches were turned off manually after takeoff.
• July 2025: Medical records of Captain Sabharwal probed by investigators.
• November 2025: Court clears Captain Sabharwal of blame in a separate legal case.

This timeline shows the rapid sequence of events following the crash.

Clarity: What Is Confirmed vs. Still Unclear

Confirmed facts

• Air India Flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad in July 2025 (The Independent).
• Captain Sumit Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder were the pilots and both died in the crash (The Independent).
• Fuel switches were moved to “cutoff” about three seconds after takeoff (The Independent).
• The preliminary AAIB report did not assign blame (The Independent).
• Both pilots passed pre-flight breathalyser tests (The Independent citing internal memo/Reuters).

What’s unclear

• Whether Captain Sabharwal acted with suicidal intent.
• Full contents of his medical records.
• Official final investigation report not yet released.
• Whether fuel-switch movement was intentional, accidental, or caused by mechanical failure.

The distinction between confirmed and unclear is crucial for understanding the investigation’s status.

Key Voices on the Crash

“The preliminary report indicates the fuel switches were moved to the cutoff position. This is a very clear signal that something went wrong in the cockpit.”

— Mohan Ranganathan, aviation safety expert, speaking to NDTV (The Independent)

“My son’s last words were captured on the cockpit voice recorder. He was a good pilot and a good man.”

— Pushkar Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumit Sabharwal, at his son’s funeral (The Independent)

“Both pilots passed mandatory pre-flight breathalyser tests. There were no observations about their medical status.”

— Campbell Wilson, CEO of Air India, in an internal memo (The Independent citing Reuters)

“We strongly reject any suggestion that pilot error caused this crash. The investigation is ongoing.”

— An association of Indian pilots, statement to the media (The Independent)

The pattern across these voices: every stakeholder — investigators, pilots’ families, the airline, and pilot advocacy groups — is working from incomplete data, which fuels the public uncertainty.

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For a deeper look into their backgrounds and the unanswered questions surrounding the tragedy, see this detailed profile of the pilots.

Frequently asked questions

For the families of the victims, the wait for the final AAIB report continues, while the aviation industry watches for safety recommendations.