Preliminary report into Air India crash released

it makes sense to me that the pilot who said "I did not do it" actually did do it without realizing it, was supposed to be putting the landing gear up when he committed a muscle memory mistake. it happened around the time the landing gear should be up, and this explanation matches what was said in the cockpit, and the fact that the landing gear wasn't retracted. I think this idea was even floated initially by the youtube pilot/analysts I watch but dismissed as unlikely.

even though that raising the gear is a up motion and fuelcut off is a down motion?

And fuel cutoff is _two_ down motions? That's the death knell for this theory, imo.

I don't think the theory is that the muscle memory sequences resemble each other.

Instead, it's that because muscle memory allows you to do things without thinking about it, you can get mixed up about which action you meant to perform and go through the whole process without realizing it.

Is actuating the fuel cutoff switches something that is done routinely in these aircraft, to the extent it could reasonably become muscle memory?

ETA: downthread it is mentioned that these switches are used on the ground to cut the engines