Air India crash reporting is ‘premature', says US probe agency
'Investigations of this magnitude take time,' NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said Friday in a post to social media platform X.
She called recent media reports 'premature and speculative,' without providing any specifics on what exactly she was referring to.
Investigators, led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau with the assistance of the NTSB, have been piecing together evidence to determine what caused Air India Flight 171 to crash on June 12, killing 260 people. AAIB and Air India chief executive officer Campbell Wilson have also urged the public not to draw conclusions while the probe is ongoing.
It can take a year – sometimes longer – for authorities to release a final report laying out the probable cause of an accident and recommendations for avoiding future tragedies.
A preliminary report released by the AAIB found two fuel control switches on the Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner were moved to a 'cutoff' position immediately after the aircraft lifted off, starving the engines of fuel. While the move was reversed about 10 seconds later, it was too late to avert the crash.
A cockpit voice recording from the aircraft revealed that one pilot – since identified as First Officer Clive Kunder – asked the other, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, why he moved the switches, to which the latter replied he didn't.
How and why the switches came to be turned off are the key lines of inquiry for investigators.
Officials are probing whether it could be the result of human action – deliberate or inadvertent – or a failure of the plane's systems.
Following the release of AAIB's preliminary report, India's civil aviation authority ordered an inspection of fuel switches on Boeing 737 and 787 aircraft operating in the country in an effort to ascertain whether the crash was caused by equipment failure.
Investigators at this point haven't identified any mechanical or design issues with the Boeing plane or the engines. — Bloomberg
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
9 hours ago
- The Star
Air India crash reporting is ‘premature', says US probe agency
The head of the US National Transportation Safety Board said it's too soon to draw conclusions about what caused the deadly crash of an Air India jetliner following reports that the captain of the plane likely moved switches that control the flow of fuel to the engines. 'Investigations of this magnitude take time,' NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said Friday in a post to social media platform X. She called recent media reports 'premature and speculative,' without providing any specifics on what exactly she was referring to. Investigators, led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau with the assistance of the NTSB, have been piecing together evidence to determine what caused Air India Flight 171 to crash on June 12, killing 260 people. AAIB and Air India chief executive officer Campbell Wilson have also urged the public not to draw conclusions while the probe is ongoing. It can take a year – sometimes longer – for authorities to release a final report laying out the probable cause of an accident and recommendations for avoiding future tragedies. A preliminary report released by the AAIB found two fuel control switches on the Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner were moved to a 'cutoff' position immediately after the aircraft lifted off, starving the engines of fuel. While the move was reversed about 10 seconds later, it was too late to avert the crash. A cockpit voice recording from the aircraft revealed that one pilot – since identified as First Officer Clive Kunder – asked the other, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, why he moved the switches, to which the latter replied he didn't. How and why the switches came to be turned off are the key lines of inquiry for investigators. Officials are probing whether it could be the result of human action – deliberate or inadvertent – or a failure of the plane's systems. Following the release of AAIB's preliminary report, India's civil aviation authority ordered an inspection of fuel switches on Boeing 737 and 787 aircraft operating in the country in an effort to ascertain whether the crash was caused by equipment failure. Investigators at this point haven't identified any mechanical or design issues with the Boeing plane or the engines. — Bloomberg
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
NTSB chair says media reports on Air India crash are speculative, premature
FILE PHOTO: Wreckage of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane sits on the open ground, outside Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, where it took off and crashed nearby shortly afterwards, in Ahmedabad, India July 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo (Reuters) -The United States National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said on Friday that recent media reports on the crash of an Air India Boeing Dreamliner that killed 260 people were premature and speculative. A preliminary investigation released last week by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau found confusion in the cockpit shortly before the June 12 crash, and raised fresh questions over the position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches. A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the flight supports the view that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane's engines, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with U.S. officials' early assessment of evidence. GE Aerospace, Boeing, Air India, India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation and AAIB did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Homendy said investigations of this magnitude take time, and that the NTSB will continue to support AAIB's ongoing probe. (Reporting by Abu Sultan and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang)
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Air India says plane ‘well-maintained' before crash
Officials inspect the site of the Air India plane crash on a building rooftop in Ahmedabad that killed 242 people. (AP pic) NEW DELHI : Air India's Boeing plane was 'well-maintained' before it crashed a week ago, killing all but one of 242 people on board, the airline said Thursday. Indian authorities are yet to detail what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to hurtle to the ground in the western city of Ahmedabad, where at least 38 people were also left dead. As investigators attempt to retrieve data from the plane's black boxes – the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder – the airline said that no problems were detected with the jet before the disaster. 'The plane was well-maintained, with its last major check in June 2023,' Air India said in a statement. 'Its right engine was overhauled in March 2025, and the left engine was inspected in April 2025. Both the aircraft and engines were regularly monitored, showing no issues before the flight,' the airline said. The London-bound jet burst into a fireball when it smashed into a residential area of Ahmedabad moments after takeoff. Initial checks since the crash on Air India's Dreamliners 'did not reveal any major safety concerns', the country's civil aviation regulator said Tuesday. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. The airline on Thursday said the pilots were accomplished flyers. 'The flight was led by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a highly experienced pilot and trainer with over 10,000 hours flying widebody aircraft,' it said. 'First Officer Clive Kunder, had over 3,400 hours of flying experience.' While investigators try to piece together what went wrong, families of dozens of victims are still waiting for their loved ones to be identified. As of Thursday, 210 victims have been identified through DNA testing, state health minister Rushikesh Patel said.
