Fact Check: Viral Video of Pilot Welcoming Mother Onboard Not Linked to Ahmedabad Air India Crash
India saw one of its worst aviation disasters, in which at least 270 people were killed, last week, and new evidence
India saw one of its worst aviation disasters, in which at least 270 people were killed, last week, and new evidence indicates that both engines of the Air India Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 may have failed, or it may have suffered a total electrical or hydraulic malfunction. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was operating as Air India flight AI-171 to London, had taken off from Ahmedabad on the afternoon of June 12 and crashed into the complex of the BJ Medical College, an aerial distance of less than 2 km. The crash took place at 1:38 pm, just 32 seconds after the aircraft took off.
Several old videos and images not related to the Ahmedabad plane crash are in circulation on social media platforms with false claims. One such video shows a heartwarming incident where a young pilot welcomes his mother onboard the flight where he is the pilot and announces that he is happy to take his mother on an international flight. This video is in circulation with the claim that it shows the happy moments that took place before the Air India flight crash.
This video is shared with captions like “His dream was to fly his mum…. Tràgîcàlly, he flew her and his son to their final rest. RIP”
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The video showing the young pilot welcoming his mother is not related to the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025.
Firstly, when we searched for information about the pilots of the flight AI-171, we found that the pilot was Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and the first officer was Clive Kundar. Some of the crew members, along with the pilot, can be seen in this video:
When we extracted the keyframes from the viral video and searched using Google reverse image search, we found that the video is from March 2025. We found several news reports stating that the pilot seen in the video is Pushpan.
According to a report published in Hindustan Times on April 19, 2025, a pilot’s heartfelt gesture towards his mother during a flight has captured the hearts of the internet. The touching moment, shared by Aswath Pushpan on Instagram, has gone viral, amassing over eight million views to date. Aswath, who was piloting the flight, made a surprise announcement before takeoff, sharing a personal moment with the passengers. The video opens with him embracing his mother at the gate, preparing for what would be a memorable flight.
News18 also published this report, stating that a heartwarming video of a pilot surprising his mother onboard a flight has touched millions online. The video was posted by Aswath Pushpan, who is a pilot. When his mother boarded the flight, he made a special announcement after the aircraft completed boarding.
The original video was shared by Aswath himself on his Instagram account with the caption “Cleared for takeoff - with the most special passenger on board! Welcome on board, Mom…”
Hence, the viral video showing a young pilot welcoming his mother onboard is not related to the Air India flight crash. The claim that the video shows heartwarming moments right before the takeoff of AI 171 that crashed in Ahmedabad is False.