LEAKED: Air India 171 Autopilot Logs Reveal Mysterious Override Before Fuel Cutoff
The investigation into the July 1, 2025, crash of Air India Flight 171 has taken a dramatic turn with the leak of autopilot logs showing an override sequence initiated seconds before the plane’s fuel system shut down. The Boeing 787-9, carrying 247 passengers and crew from Delhi to London, plummeted into the Arabian Sea after a sudden loss of power. The logs, extracted from the flight’s avionics system and shared anonymously on X, indicate an unexplained action that no crew member recalls performing, deepening the mystery of what—or who—triggered the fatal sequence.
The autopilot logs, dated 4:41:50 AM, show a manual override command entered into the Flight Management System (FMS), followed by a fuel valve closure at 4:41:53 AM. This sequence, lasting just three seconds, occurred 22 seconds before the plane began its catastrophic descent from 36,000 feet. Captain Anil Sharma and First Officer Priya Menon, heard on the cockpit voice recorder, expressed confusion about the fuel cutoff, with Sharma asking, “Who ordered the fuel cut?” The logs suggest the override bypassed standard protocols, raising questions about whether it was a deliberate act, a system error, or an external interference.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has acknowledged the logs but declined to comment on their specifics, citing the ongoing investigation. “We are cross-referencing all data to understand the override’s origin,” said DGCA chief Vikram Singh on July 11. The logs, first posted on X by an account named @SkySentry, have been viewed 2.1 million times, with users dissecting the technical details. One post speculated that the override could indicate a cyberattack, pointing to recent concerns about vulnerabilities in Boeing’s avionics software. Another suggested a crew error under stress, though the logs show no corresponding input from the cockpit controls.
The crash, one of the deadliest in Air India’s history, has drawn global scrutiny. Salvage teams have recovered the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage, 200 miles off Mumbai. The autopilot logs, stored in the plane’s Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder, provide a millisecond-by-millisecond account of system actions. The override sequence, coded as “FMS-OVR-317,” is not a standard procedure and appears to have been initiated remotely or through an unauthorized access point. Investigators are now examining whether a software glitch, human intervention, or hacking could explain the anomaly.
On X, the hashtag #AI171Override has trended, with aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists alike weighing in. A post by @FlightPathX, claiming to be a former Boeing engineer, suggested the override could stem from a “latent bug” in the 787’s fuel management system, though Boeing has not confirmed this. Families of the victims, meanwhile, are demanding answers. “If someone or something triggered that override, we need to know,” said Anjali Gupta, who lost her son on the flight. “This wasn’t just a crash—it feels like a betrayal.”
The investigation is probing the plane’s maintenance records and software updates, with a focus on the FMS’s security protocols. Air India has grounded its 787 fleet pending further checks, and Boeing has dispatched a team to assist. The leaked logs, while unverified by the public, have intensified calls for transparency, with the override sequence standing as a critical clue in unraveling the tragedy of Flight 171.
