Engine fuel switches cut off before Air India crash that killed 260, preliminary report finds

Early investigation into accident in Ahmedabad in June also contains details of pilots discussing the switches
Fuel to both engines of the Air India plane that crashed and killed 260 people last month appears to have been cut off seconds after the flight took off, a preliminary report has found.

Air India flight AI171, bound for London, crashed into a densely populated residential area in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on 12 June, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground. It was India’s deadliest air crash in almost three decades.

According to a preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, moments after take-off both the switches in the cockpit that controlled fuel going to the engines had been moved to the “cut-off” position. Moving the fuel switches almost immediately cuts the engine.

The initial report did not recommend action against Boeing, who manufactured the 787-8 Dreamliner, or General Electric who manufactured the engines.
Drawing on information gathered from the plane’s data and voice recorders, which were recovered after the crash, the report relayed that “in the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off”, referring to the fuel switch.

“The other pilot responded that he did not do so.” Seconds after, the plane began losing altitude and an emergency message was transmitted from the cockpit to air traffic control, just before it crashed to the ground outside the airport perimeter.

According to the report, the fuel switches were moved to cut-off “one after another”. Seconds later, the switches were moved back to turn the fuel back on and one of the plane’s engines was able to restart, but could not reverse the plane’s deceleration.

It did not identify which remarks were made by the flight’s captain and which by the first officer, nor which pilot transmitted “mayday, mayday, mayday” just before the crash.

The commanding pilot of the Air India plane was Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, who had a total flying experience of 15,638 hours and, according to the Indian government, was also an Air India instructor. His co-pilot was Clive Kunder, 32, who had 3,403 hours of total experience.

Source: Africa Publicity