Air India crash points to cockpit confusion as fuel flow cut out
A preliminary 15-page report filed on July 11 provided the first detailed account of the fateful 32 seconds between takeoff in Ahmedabad and the descent into an urban district just beyond the airport perimeter, where the Boeing 787 exploded, killing all but one of the 242 people on board.
Investigators laid out the sequence of events with exact timestamps, providing a harrowing picture of the plane's final moments. But the findings leave unanswered one central question: Why and by whom were two fuel switches in the cockpit moved to a cut-off position as the jet nosed into the air, starving the two powerful engines of thrust just as the plane required the most lift.
At the controls for the aircraft's final journey was First Officer Clive Kunder, a pilot with roughly 1,100 flight hours on Boeing's most advanced jet. The report identified him as the pilot flying, while Sumeet Sabharwal, the more experienced and senior cockpit occupant in command, was pilot monitoring for the flight.
It's common for a captain and copilot to switch flying duties, particularly on longer journeys. Under typical pilot protocol, Kunder would have had one hand on the yoke commanding the widebody into the skies, and another on the throttle controlling the plane's speed. The crew captain would have handled air traffic communications and responded to Kunder's instructions.
All seemed normal as the Boeing 787 lifted off into a clear sky in the western Indian city en route to London's Gatwick airport. There was no significant bird activity in the flight path, all but ruling out a collision that could have damaged the engines.
Then, according to a chronology laid out by Indian authorities, the two fuel switches in the plane's center console were flipped, about one second apart.
It's unclear what prompted the maneuver, but it crippled the plane during a critical phase of flight. A fan, known as the ram air turbine, dropped below the plane's belly to provide emergency power, all while the 787 was still within view of airport cameras.
On board, the pilots had a brief exchange — the only cockpit conversation mentioned in the report aside from a final "mayday' call just seconds before impact.
Air India employees pay a floral tribute to the victims of last month's Air India flight 171 crash, at the accident site in Ahmedabad, India, on Saturday. |
AFP-JIJI
"In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off,' the investigators wrote. "The other pilot responded that he did not do so.' The report didn't identify which of the two men asked the other about the move.
It would take about 10 seconds for the first switch to return to its run position, restoring the flow of fuel to the engine, and 14 seconds for the second to be turned back on. Given the aircraft had barely lifted off and was at a critical phase of its flight, that's an eternity for pilots only a few hundred feet above ground and facing a life-threatening emergency.
"It's just strange,' said Bjorn Fehrm, an aerospace engineer and former fighter pilot who is a technical analyst with Leeham News. "I would never, ever wait 10 seconds to put them on again. I would put them on in a jiffy.'
While both engines were relit, only the first one started to regain power before the 787 plunged to the ground.
The sequence of events was gleaned from different data points, including the cockpit voice and flight-data recorders that were recovered from the wreckage. There's no mention in the report of any additional exchanges in the cockpit or of any noises on the flight deck that the sensitive microphones would have picked up.
"The most important information is the voice dialog between the pilots, and we only get one line, which is totally inadequate,' said Fehrm.
That leaves other key questions unanswered, including how the two pilots interacted as the aircraft sagged back to the ground, and who was ultimately in control in those frantic final seconds. Why one of the men would have conducted the unusual and highly risky maneuver of manipulating both fuel toggles also remains unknown.
The switches are secured with a mechanism that requires a specific movement to shift them between on and off mode. And they are idled only when the plane is on the ground, or in an extreme emergency during flight, such as an engine fire.
Given the trajectory of flight, starving the aircraft of fuel seconds after takeoff made it almost impossible to save the plane because the jet had just left the ground, providing very little recovery room. The Boeing 787 crashed just outside the airport boundary, having grazed some trees before plunging into a hostel packed with students.
Some 19 people died on the ground, the report found.
People attend a memorial held for the deceased crew members of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane, which crashed during take-off from an airport in Ahmedabad, at a church in Mumbai, India, on Saturday. |
REUTERS
The preliminary version hinted at another matter to be explored by investigators, without elaborating. It flagged an airworthiness bulletin by the Federal Aviation Administration from 2018 that said that some fuel control switches on Boeing planes including the smaller 737 and the 787 were installed without their locking mechanism engaged.
The Air India jet was not inspected for that mechanism fault as the matter was not mandatory. No defect relating to the switches had been reported since the throttle control module was replaced in 2023, the report said.
Investigators said that they found no evidence so far that would require them to take actions over the Boeing aircraft or the GE Aerospace engines powering it.
"At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to B787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers,' according to the report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
The National Transportation Safety Board referred any questions to Indian authorities. Air India said it's unable to comment on specific details of the investigation and it was cooperating with officials. Boeing said it continues to support the investigation and Air India and referred questions to the AAIB.
The people conducting the probe are also looking at the backgrounds and experience of the pilots — a normal step for this kind of investigation. Sabharwal had about 8,500 flight hours, according to the report. Both pilots were based at Mumbai and had arrived in Ahmedabad the previous day with "adequate rest period' prior to the flight, the report said.
"We now know — with some degree of confidence — that both engines rolled back because these fuel switches were activated,' said Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigation chief for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. "We just don't know why or how these switches were activated and that's going to be a big part of this investigation.'
A final report that seeks to determine the cause of the incident will take months to compile.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
14 hours ago
- Japan Times
Woman recounts deadly U.S. bombings of Chiba 80 years ago
As the anniversary of the war's end comes into view, an 87-year-old woman from Chiba is recalling two rounds of deadly U.S. airstrikes that took the lives of over 1,200 people in the city, noting that she's fortunate to have survived. "If the attacks had hit slightly different places, I wouldn't be here," Fumiko Takayama, a former schoolteacher, said. The airstrikes burned down about 60% of the city's urban areas. The first bombing came on the morning of June 10, 1945. A warning siren went off after she finished her breakfast that Sunday. Soon after she started preparations to evacuate to a shelter, the siren changed into an air raid alert. Just as she was about to put on her shoes, a cloud of dust from a blast made it impossible to see anything. Takayama dropped to the ground, covering her eyes, nose and ears with her hands, as she had been taught to at school. Her family hid in a closet and was safe. A few days later, Takayama noticed that part of her protective head covering had been burnt off. "I would have been dead if I hadn't got down," she says. After a bomb hit a nearby hospital, dead bodies were placed on a vacant lot of land in front of her house and she saw corpses with bent arms and legs in a scene that left a lasting impression on her about the destruction of war. Takayama and her neighbors paid respect to the dead as a military truck took away the bodies. The second air raid struck in the small hours of July 7, 1945. Her heart started pounding as she thought "it's another bombing." Her father told his family to evacuate to the sea. As she walked west along the waterfront, the sky was red, and sparks of fire kept falling. Takayama kept walking while soaking her head covering into the seawater again and again so that her clothes would not catch fire. She learned later that people who evacuated in the opposite direction along the seafront were gunned down by U.S. warplanes and died. About 10 years ago, Takayama started to talk about her experience, mainly at elementary and junior high schools, at the suggestion of a former work colleague. "War destroys things, and kills people and hearts," she says. "There's nothing good about war."
Japan Times
17 hours ago
- Japan Times
Hiroshima teens describe World War II atomic bombing horror through art
Trudging through the ruins of the city of Hiroshima after the U.S. atomic bombing four days before in 1945, 5-year-old Masaki Hironaka clutched his mother's hand and silently vowed to protect her. It's one of many scenes from 80 years ago in August still etched in the octogenarian's memory — and now depicted vividly by Japanese teenagers on canvas. For almost 20 years, Motomachi High School in Hiroshima has tasked its art students with interviewing hibakusha — atomic bomb survivors — and turning their harrowing testimonies into paintings. Showcased recently by the school ahead of the Aug. 6 anniversary were 15 new artworks, including of scorched soldiers writhing in pain and a horror-stricken girl surrounded by an inferno. "I think the painting very accurately captures my feelings at the time," Hironaka said, nodding with satisfaction at one such piece that immortalized an "unforgettable page of my life." "It's authentic, and very well drawn." Student Hana Takasago's evocative art shows a young Hironaka looking up at his mother as they plod through what remains of Hiroshima on Aug. 10, 1945, with fires still lingering. A few days before, his father had come home heavily burned by the blast and asked Hironaka to yank out a glass shard stuck deep into his flesh. He died soon afterward. The widowed mother, clasping Hironaka's tiny hand and with his younger sister strapped on her back, is depicted gazing down and mumbling to him about her fears. "In that moment, I was gripped by the strong determination to help and support her, young as I was. That's the feeling captured here," said Hironaka. The "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed around 140,000 people, including many who died from radiation. Motomachi High is now an integral part of what was originally the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum's initiative, which has over the years birthed more than 200 artworks. The idea is to keep memories of the bombing relevant for younger generations. In the last eight months or so, witnesses including Hironaka sat down with students every few weeks to review their works in progress, sometimes requesting a drastic re-do. "I originally had Mr. Hironaka and his mother face straight ahead, but he told me that their looking ahead doesn't really convey her inner struggle at the time," Takasago, 17, said. "Since I've seen none of these described scenes myself, I was never confident that my depictions were accurate," she said in the school's cluttered art room. Atomic bomb survivor Masaki Hironaka (right) speaks about a painting (top center) created by student Hana Takasago (left) showing him with his mother in the aftermath of the devastation in 1945, during a press preview of paintings created by students through survivors' testimonies to keep the memories of the bombing relevant for younger generations, at Motomachi High School in the city of Hiroshima on June 27. | AFP-Jiji The same went for Yumeko Onoue, 16, whose art depicts pumpkins that Hironaka remembers were covered in soot from radioactive "black rain." Having initially drawn the fruit's leaves to face upward with vitality, she "completely re-drew them to wilt," to match Hironaka's memory. "While photos from that era were mostly black and white, paintings can add color and emphasize key elements, making them, I think, ideal for expressing intended messages," Onoue said. Many of these teens relied on their imagination and perused historical documents. Immersing themselves in the carnage took a toll on some, such as Mei Honda, 18, who described the "emotionally draining" task of depicting charred skin and flesh dangling from people's arms. Based on what one hibakusha witnessed, her painting showed one such woman gulping water. "I initially depicted her arms pressed against her torso, but skin contact would have hurt her badly because of the burns," Honda said. Recent data showed that the number of survivors from the bombings is now below 100,000, with the average age 86 years old. "We are probably the last generation to have the opportunity to listen face-to-face to the experiences of hibakusha," Aoi Fukumoto, a 19-year-old Motomachi High alumna, said. This sense of crisis was instilled by the project in other participants this year — including Takasago. "Before I embarked on this project, what the atomic bomb did had always felt distant to me even as a Hiroshima native," she said. But that changed after she lived vicariously through Hironaka's story. "I can no longer remain a bystander," she said.
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Japan Times
At least 20 killed as Bangladesh fighter jet crashes into school
A Bangladeshi fighter jet crashed into a school in the capital Dhaka on Monday, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 170 in the country's deadliest aviation accident in decades. Many of the victims were young students who had just been let out of class when a Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the Milestone School and College. An AFP photographer at the scene saw fire and rescue officials taking away the injured students on stretchers, while army personnel helped clear the mangled wreckage. A military statement said 20 people were killed, including the pilot, and 171 others were injured when the jet crashed following a mechanical failure. An 18-year-old student, Shafiur Rahman Shafi, said he heard a huge blast that felt like an earthquake. "There were two fighter planes ... Suddenly one of the two planes crashed here (in the junior playground)," he said. "It created a boom, and it felt like a quake. Then, it caught fire," he added. The well-known private school offers education to children from kindergarten through to senior secondary. Most of the injured were age between 8 and 14, said Mohammad Maruf Islam, joint director of Dhaka's National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute where many victims were treated. Grieving relatives of the victims thronged the hospital, while dozens of volunteers lined up to donate blood. Tofazzal Hossain, 30, broke down in tears on learning that his young cousin had been killed. "We frantically searched for my cousin in different hospitals," Hossain said. "He was an eighth grader at the school. Finally, we found his body." Mohammad Sayedur Rahman, a Health and Family Welfare official, said at least seven bodies remained unidentified. The military said the pilot, flight lieutenant Towkir Islam, was on a routine training mission when the jet "reportedly encountered a mechanical failure." "The exact cause remains under investigation," it said in a statement. The pilot tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but, "despite his best efforts," crashed into the two-story school building, the military added. It was Towkir's first solo flight, his uncle Motakabbir said. "His mother was nervous yet happy and had been eagerly waiting for the completion of her son's first solo flight," said Motakabbir, who uses only one name. Shuvra Ghosh, the aunt of one of the injured students, said her 8-year-old niece was rescued by a teacher who broke open a window to bring her out. "We are mentally traumatized," she said. The interim government of Muhammad Yunus announced a day of national mourning on Tuesday. Yunus expressed "deep grief and sorrow" over the incident in a post on X. "The loss suffered by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers, and staff of Milestone School and College, as well as others affected by this accident, is irreparable," he said. "This is a moment of profound pain for the nation." The crash was the worst aviation accident in the country in several decades. The deadliest ever disaster happened in 1984 when a plane flying from Chattogram to Dhaka crashed, killing all 49 on board. Last month, a commercial aircraft crashed in neighboring India, killing 260 people. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "deeply shocked and saddened at the loss of lives" in Dhaka. Relations between the neighbors have been strained since protesters in Bangladesh last year ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, an old ally of New Delhi. "India stands in solidarity with Bangladesh and is ready to extend all possible support and assistance," Modi wrote on X.
