Air India plane crash accident report reveals chilling exchange in doomed flight's cockpit

The official report into last month's Air India crash that killed 270 people has revealed a terrifying exchange that took place in the cockpit seconds before the doomed flight went down.

India's Aircraft Accident Investigations Branch published its preliminary findings report tonight, 30 days after the tragic events in Ahmedabad.

Black box data previously recovered confirmed that less than 60 seconds after leaving Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, the plane lost altitude and crashed into a building that was used as doctors' accommodation at the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.

Now, investigators believe switches controlling fuel flow to both engines incorrectly flipped seconds after take-off, sparking the horror incident as both engines lost power.

And, the report confirms: "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so."

The report goes on: "At about 08:09:05 UTC, one of the pilots transmitted "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY". The ATCO enquired about the call sign. ATCO did not get any response but observed the aircraft crashing outside the airport boundary and activated the emergency response."

The preliminary findings focus on the discovery that switches controlling fuel flow to the engines of the plane had been turned off after take off, leading to an apparent loss of thrust soon after it took off.

Such a scenario could explain why the commercial jet's emergency-power generator appeared to have been activated shortly before it plummeted and crashed, killing all but one of the 242 people onboard. Flight AI171 reached only around 625 feet before slamming into a medical college complex where it killed a number of people on the ground as well.

Despite a number of reports and theories at the time of the accident, the AAIB's preliminary findings have confirmed there was "no bird activity" around Ahmedabad at the time of the accident,ruling out the chance a bird strike to both engines could have occurred.

It reads: "No significant bird activity is observed in the vicinity of the flight path. The aircraft started to lose altitude before crossing the airport perimeter wall."

In terms of damage, the report concludes: "The Aircraft was destroyed due to impact with the buildings on the ground and subsequent fire. A total of five buildings were impacted and suffered major structural and fire damages.

"As the aircraft was losing altitude, it initially made contact with a series of trees and an incineration chimney inside the Army Medical Corps compound before impacting the northeast wall of the first building.

"As the aircraft moved forward, it continued fragmenting and collided with other structures and vegetation. The impact witness marks on the building and airplane indicated a likely nose-up attitude (about 8°) and wings level."

A British national, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was the only person among the 242 people onboard the Boeing Dreamliner who survived and managed to walk away from the wreckage despite his injuries.

His incredible tale became known as 'the miracle of seat 11A'. The conclusion's report confirms he has since given a statement to investigators.