The 10 heartbreaking words spoken by the pilot of the doomed Air India flight before leaving to board have been revealed.
In one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent Indian history, Air India Flight 171 crashed shortly after takeoff on June 12, killing 260 people - 241 passengers and crew, and 19 on the ground.
Flight AI171 was en route from Ahmedabad to London when it plunged into a residential building near the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College shortly after takeoff.
The crash left just one survivor - 40-year-old British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh, who was seated in 11A.
According to India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the aircraft reached an airspeed of 180 knots at 08:08:42 UTC.
Seconds later, both of the aircraft’s engine fuel cutoff switches - crucial for fuel supply - were manually flipped from “RUN” to “CUTOFF,” cutting power to the engines and triggering the crash.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the seasoned 56-year-old pilot at the helm of the ill-fated Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, left his apartment for work that day like he had countless times before.
According to his apartment security guard, Sunil Lokhande, his final words were: “Please, take care of papa. I will be back soon,” per the Telegraph.
“He smiled and went away,” Lokhande recalled. “You’d never guess he carried any sadness inside.”
Friends and colleagues say Sabharwal had been considering early retirement to care for his elderly father.
“His father is very old, and he was going to look after him full time. That was the plan,” said Neil Pais, a former colleague. “I never once saw him raise his voice or lose his temper. And yet he never compromised on work or safety.”
Aviation experts reviewing the AAIB’s 15-page report have been left disturbed by the timing of the switch flips, which occurred just one second apart - three and four seconds after lift-off.
The switches, which require manual physical effort to move, could not have been flipped accidentally, according to multiple industry professionals.
Captain Byron Bailey told Sky News: “They require absolute physical effort to lift the switch up, raise it over … and back down. So it had to be done by one of the pilots.
“Three seconds after lift off is the perfect time to have done this,” he added.
Speculation of "suicide by captain" has been slammed by officials, per News.com.au.
“There is absolutely no basis for such a claim at this stage,” said the Indian Commercial Pilots Association.
“It is deeply insensitive to the individuals and families involved. To casually suggest pilot suicide without verified evidence is a gross violation of ethical reporting and a disservice to the dignity of the profession.”
Investigations remain ongoing.