Pramila Patil, mother of crew member Maithili Patil who died in the Air India crash, has reacted to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) preliminary report. A month after the tragic accident in Ahmedabad, she expressed confidence in Air India, saying she could not believe “negligence” on the airline’s part. Pramila shared that her daughter had been working with Air India for two years before boarding what would be her final flight.
“I can guarantee that Air India can’t cause such negligence. They took good care of my daughter for two years,’ she told ANI. Maithili was among the 260 people who lost their lives on the ill-fated London-bound flight, which crashed seconds after lift-off as per the Air India crash report. “I can’t say anything about it because we don’t have much knowledge about it. We are villagers. But I know that the government will handle it,” Maithili’s mother added.
#WATCH | Raigad, Maharashtra | On AAIB's preliminary report, Pramila Patil, the mother of a crew member Maithali Patil who died in the ill-fated Air India plane crash of 12 June, says, "I can't say anything about it because we don't have much knowledge about it. We are villagers.… pic.twitter.com/d5Ip5GGmQw
— ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2025
Days after the fatal flight, over a thousand people gathered for her funeral in the Raigad district, including Panvel MLA Prashant Thakur and Uran MLA Mahesh Baldi. She was 23, a girl from a village who was overjoyed to begin her journey with Air India two years ago. Her family, relatives and many others mourned the loss of Maithili.
What does the Air India crash report say?
The report outlines a harrowing sequence of events that took place within 90 seconds of take-off, as both engines of the aircraft shut down unexpectedly during the initial climb, leading to a catastrophic loss of thrust and rapid descent. It led to the flight crashing into the BJ Medical College hostel and damaging four other buildings.
Flight data recovered from the aircraft’s Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder (EAFR) revealed that the fuel cutoff switches for both engines were moved from RUN to CUTOFF, one after the other within a one-second interval, at an altitude just moments after liftoff. One pilot was heard asking the other, “Why did you cut off?” to which the response was, “I did not. This unprecedented shutdown triggered the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), and the aircraft began losing altitude almost immediately, unable to sustain powered flight.
According to the AAIB, the pilots attempted to reignite the fuel switches in an attempt to relight both engines. Engine 1 showed signs of recovering thrust, but Engine 2 failed to stabilise. The aircraft, which had briefly reached a speed of 180 knots, was already descending and failed to regain altitude. The final distress call, a “MAYDAY,” was transmitted at 13:09 IST, just seconds before the aircraft crashed into residential buildings outside the airport perimeter.