Ever since the tragic crash of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad on June 12—an incident that claimed 270 lives—aviation experts, commentators, and internet sleuths have been attempting to piece together what went wrong. While official investigations are still underway, the days following the crash have seen a spike in flight cancellations, particularly involving Air India. Now, YouTuber and former commercial pilot Gaurav Taneja!, better known as Flying Beast, has added fuel to the growing curiosity with his latest post on X.
On Thursday evening, Taneja wrote, “Air India pilots are snagging aircrafts, grounding, reporting sick and refusing to fly when in doubt… It is the pilots and the crew who are front line staff that take off and land in these machines. The pilots know something that the public doesn’t. #AirIndiaCrash.” His post has since sparked widespread speculation, with many wondering if there’s a deeper issue not yet revealed to the public.
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Taneja, who spent over a decade in the cockpit, has been actively sharing possible causes behind the crash through his YouTube videos. One theory he explored is the possibility of a dual engine failure. He noted that the flight had consumed more runway than normal before takeoff—something he said could indicate that one engine had failed on the ground itself. “The aircraft was close to its maximum takeoff weight… If both engines had failed, it wouldn’t have taken off. But even with one engine down, it used more runway than expected,” he explained, while clarifying that these are only educated guesses without proof.
He also mentioned aircraft overloading as another possible factor, though again, he reiterated these were just theories. Another aviation YouTuber, Captain Steeeve, also weighed in with his thoughts—initially suggesting pilot error may have played a role, though he later clarified after facing criticism.
Meanwhile, Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran told Times Now that the aircraft in question had a “clean history.” He confirmed that one engine was newly installed in March 2025, while the other had been serviced in 2023 and was due for maintenance in December 2025.