Air India crash: Media in India spreading disinformation on fuel control switches

Several media in India reported at July 15 that the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had issued just a few weeks before the crash of Air India 171 , a formal safety notice highlighting concerns related to fuel control systems in several Boeing aircraft, including the 787 Dreamliner.

That is misleading news. The safety notice was not related to the fuel switches and was published in 2015!

The preliminary report on the crash of Air India 171 stated that a few seconds after the wheels of the aircraft left the runway both fuel control switches in the cockpit were set to the CUTOFF position. This means both engines did not receive any fuel anymore. These switches can only be moved by a person in the cockpit. The switches are protected against accidental movement by for instance an object hitting the switches.

This implies either an extremely unlikely mistake by one of the pilots or a deliberate action by one of the pilots.

Media in India reported at July 15 about a notice by the CAA. Media linked an almost 10 years old notice by the FAA on fuel valve to the fuel control switches. Two totally different items in an airplane. Mind all three examples of headlines wrongly mention ‘ fuel switch’.

The UK aviation regulator clarified on Tuesday that a recently surfaced safety notice on fuel control switches on several Boeing aircraft was originally issued way back in 2015. In a statement, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said presently there were no technical concerns regarding Boeing products.

The notice came in the backdrop of a preliminary report into the Air India crash in Ahmedabad revealing that fuel supply to both engines of the Air India Boeing 787 got cut off, resulting in the tragedy that claimed 260 lives.

“We do not have any technical concern with regards to Boeing products. An old notification reflected on the website due email update. The safety notice was issued in 2015. The document was updated on May 15, 2025, to update the contact email address on the document. Due to the update to the contact email address, our website published the document as if it was a new document,” a statement by the UK CAA said.”

However many media in India reported about the safety notice issued by the CAA.

For example News18 headline is ‘ UK Regulator Flagged Boeing 787 Fuel Switch Risks Weeks Before Air India Crash: Report‘ . India Today headline is ‘ UK regulator flagged Boeing fuel switches four weeks before Air India crash‘ . Times of India (Largest English-language daily in India and one of the most-read globally) writes: Air India crash: Boeing fuel switch under scrutiny; Was a safety alert issued weeks before by UK CAA?. India TV News headline: ‘UK regulator warned of Boeing fuel switch issue four weeks before Air India crash in Ahmedabad’.

It is not just the english language in India spreading disinformation. One of the largest media in Hindi is Dainik Bhaskar. This too has disinformation. The title of their article is ‘ Britain’s warning 4 weeks before the Ahmedabad accident: It was said – check the fuel control switch of Boeing planes, repair or replace if needed”

Times of India mentions in the article not the fuel switch but the fuel shutoff valves;

Weeks before the deadly crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad, British aviation authorities had issued a safety notice urging urgent checks on fuel shutoff valves in Boeing aircraft—including the 787 Dreamliner involved in the tragedy.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Safety Notice SN–2015/005, issued on 15 May 2025, advised all Boeing 737, 757, 767, 777 and 787 operators to review US FAA airworthiness directive.

To the unsuspecting reader of the article it may seem as if there is a relationship with the fuel control switches.

There is NOT!

The May 15, 2025 safety notice can be seen here. The Airworthyness Direrective (AD) for the Boeing 787 is this one AD 2015-19-09. Mind this was published by the FAA in september 2015.

Part of the AD is below. You will see that the AD is about a valve actuator. This is a mechanism to open or close a valve which controls the flow of fuel. This valve is located somewhere near the engine and APU.

It has *NOTHING* to do with the ** switch ** located in the cockpit. Which was seconds after liftoff moved by a person inside the cockpit. A switch is something else than a valve. Any Indian citizen especially working as a journalist should understand that.

It seems media in India find it hard to believe one of the pilots made a mistake or worse, commited suicide and murdered passengers and crew. Financial Times wrote:

Indian commentators have also rushed to defend the flight crew, who were among the 260 people killed in what was India’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost three decades. “Very well-designed campaign to pin it on the pilots,” Shiv Aroor, a news presenter on broadcaster NDTV, wrote in a social media post on Saturday. “Extremely well played. Far bigger mountains have been moved to save the status quo.”