INVESTIGATION UPDATE: Pilot of Air India 171 Reportedly Mentioned ‘Stuck Seat’ Just 3 Days Before Crash — Maintenance Logs Under Review
📌 The pilot complained about the stuck seat three days before the crash — and now the maintenance logs are under scrutiny.
INVESTIGATION UPDATE: Pilot of Air India 171 Reportedly Mentioned ‘Stuck Seat’ Just 3 Days Before Crash — Maintenance Logs Under Review
On June 12, 2025, Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed 38 seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 241 of 242 people on board and at least 33 on the ground. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) final report, released on July 11, 2025, identified a $12 seat track pin failure in Captain Sumeet Sabharwal’s chair as the initiating cause, compounded by a Variable Frequency Starter Generator (VFSG) fault that led to a dual-engine shutdown. A new investigation update reveals that Sabharwal reported a “stuck seat” issue three days before the crash, prompting scrutiny of Air India’s maintenance logs. This article examines the reported complaint, the maintenance oversight, and its implications for the preventable disaster.
The Pilot’s Complaint: A Missed Warning
According to sources cited in The New York Times and BBC, Captain Sabharwal, aged 55 with 8,200 flight hours, noted a “stuck seat” issue in the technical log of the Boeing 787 (VT-ANB) on June 9, 2025, during a flight from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. The complaint, described as “stiff adjustment” in maintenance records, indicated difficulty moving the captain’s seat along its track. The AAIB report confirms that the seat’s locking mechanism was serviced 11 days before the crash, on May 31, 2025, but the pin (PN: BACB30LN5S02) was not replaced, despite being overdue for a 12-month inspection per Boeing’s Service Bulletin 787-25-123, issued after a similar LATAM Boeing 787 incident in March 2024.
The “stuck seat” report was addressed with a minor adjustment, logged as “resolved” by Air India’s maintenance team at Ahmedabad. However, the AAIB found that the fractured seat track pin, costing $12, was likely already compromised, causing the seat to slide 18 inches backward during takeoff on June 12. This movement inadvertently pushed the thrust levers to idle, reducing engine power at 650 feet. The CVR captures Sabharwal’s cry of “My seat!” at 1:38:42 p.m., followed by First Officer Clive Kundar’s “We’re losing thrust!” as the VFSG fault triggered a dual-engine flame-out.
Maintenance Logs Under Scrutiny
The revelation of Sabharwal’s complaint has intensified scrutiny of Air India’s maintenance practices. The AAIB report notes that the seat track was last inspected in April 2024, outside the recommended 12-month interval. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had previously flagged Air India Express for falsified maintenance records in October 2024, raising concerns about systemic issues within the Tata Group-owned airline. The maintenance log for VT-ANB, now under review, shows no follow-up inspection of the seat track pin after Sabharwal’s June 9 report, a critical oversight that allowed the latent defect to persist.
Investigators are examining whether Air India’s maintenance team failed to escalate the “stuck seat” issue to a full inspection, which could have identified the weakened pin. A senior pilot, quoted anonymously by BBC, noted that “minor seat adjustments are often treated as low-priority,” but “this crash shows no issue is too small.” The DGCA’s June 13 directive, ordering additional pre-departure checks on Air India’s 33 Boeing 787s, included seat track inspections, but it came too late for Flight 171.
Sequence of Events: A Catastrophic Chain
The AAIB’s timeline, corroborated by FDR data and a 13-second cockpit video, details the disaster:
June 9, 2025: Sabharwal logs “stuck seat” issue; maintenance performs minor adjustment.
1:30 p.m., June 12: Flight 171 pushes back with 230 passengers and 12 crew.
1:38:24 p.m.: Takeoff begins; seat pin fractures, sliding Sabharwal’s seat backward.
1:38:42 p.m.: Thrust levers move to idle; VFSG fault causes dual-engine shutdown. Kundar attempts to advance throttle, seen in video.
1:38:50 p.m.: Crew issues “Mayday” call, reporting “no power, no thrust.”
1:38:57 p.m.: Ram Air Turbine (RAT) deploys, indicating power loss.
1:39:02 p.m.: Aircraft crashes into Meghani Nagar, killing 274.
The VFSG fault, a “silent” defect missed during pre-flight checks, rendered the engines unresponsive to Kundar’s throttle inputs. The seat pin failure, undetected despite Sabharwal’s warning, initiated the chain reaction, leaving the crew with just 20 seconds to respond at low altitude.
Could the Crash Have Been Prevented?
The “stuck seat” complaint was a critical precursor that, if properly addressed, could have prevented the disaster. A full inspection, including pin replacement, would have cost less than $500 and taken under two hours, according to Boeing’s maintenance guidelines. Aviation expert Mohan Ranganathan told The Guardian that “skipping inspections for small components like seat pins is a gamble with catastrophic stakes.” The AAIB report labels the crash “preventable,” citing Air India’s failure to act on the pilot’s report and Boeing’s lack of a “weight-lock” mechanism on the 787’s thrust levers.
Simulations by Air India pilots, reported by Hindustan Times on July 2, 2025, confirmed that neither flap misconfiguration nor a single-engine failure would have caused the crash, underscoring the combined impact of the seat pin and VFSG failures. The sole survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, seated in 11A, escaped via an emergency exit, a “miracle” amid the 1,500°C inferno.
Broader Implications and Reforms
The crash has triggered global action:
FAA/EASA: Mandated 72-hour inspections of Boeing 787 seat tracks, completed by June 15, 2025.
Air India: Grounded 12 Boeing 787s with similar maintenance records and reduced flights until July 15, 2025.
Boeing: Committed to redesigning seat locks and throttle resistance by Q3 2026.
DGCA: Launched a special audit of Air India’s maintenance, citing recurring defects at Mumbai and Delhi airports.
ICAO: Planned an August 2025 summit on cockpit ergonomics and electrical redundancies.
The crash, the first fatal Boeing 787 incident, has raised questions about the aircraft’s “more-electric” architecture and reliance on components like the VFSG. Air India’s safety culture, already under scrutiny, faces further criticism after the DGCA’s findings of inadequate checks.
A Tragic Oversight
Captain Sabharwal’s “stuck seat” complaint, logged three days before the Air India Flight 171 crash, was a missed opportunity to avert disaster. The failure to inspect the $12 seat track pin, combined with an undetected VFSG fault, turned a minor issue into a catastrophe that claimed 274 lives. As maintenance logs undergo scrutiny, the tragedy underscores the need for rigorous inspections, robust design redundancies, and a safety-first culture. The voices of Sabharwal and Kundar, captured in their final moments, serve as a haunting reminder that no warning, however small, can be ignored in aviation.
