Fuel to Air India plane was cut off moments before crash, investigation report says
The report, issued by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, also indicated that both pilots were confused over the change to the switch setting, which caused a loss of engine thrust shortly after takeoff.
The Air India flight — a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — crashed on June 12 and killed at least 260 people, including 19 on the ground, in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad. Only one passenger survived the crash, which is one of India's worst aviation disasters.
The plane was carrying 230 passengers — 169 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian — along with 12 crew members.
According to the report, the flight lasted around 30 seconds between takeoff and crash. It said that once the aircraft achieved its top recorded speed, 'the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another' within a second. The report did not say how the switches could have flipped to the cutoff position during the flight.
The movement of the fuel control switches allows and cuts fuel flow to the plane's engines.
The switches were flipped back into the run position, the report said, but the plane could not gain power quickly enough to stop its descent after the aircraft had begun to lose altitude.
The report stated: 'One of the pilots transmitted 'MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY'.'
Aviation expert and former airline pilot Terry Tozer said the engine cutoff switches being switched to off only seconds after takeoff was 'absolutely bizarre.'
'Unfortunately, the altitude was so low that the engines were only beginning to recover and they didn't have enough time,' Tozer told Sky News.
The report also indicated confusion in the cockpit moments before the crash.
In the flight's final moment, one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel. 'The other pilot responded that he did not do so,' the report said.
The preliminary report did not recommend any actions for Boeing, which said in a statement that it 'stands ready to support the investigation led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.'
'Our deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board Air India Flight 171, as well as everyone affected in Ahmedabad,' the statement added.
India's civil aviation minister, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, said the report's findings were preliminary and one should not 'jump into any conclusions on this.'
'Let us wait for the final report,' Naidu told reporters.
Air India, in a statement, said it is fully cooperating with authorities investigating the crash.
The report based its finding on data from the plane's black boxes — combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders — that were recovered in the days following the crash.
Saaliq writes for the Associated Press.
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Air India crash report answers one question
An official report on the world's deadliest aviation accident in a decade has answered one key question – but raised others. Air India flight AI171 had barely left the runway last month when it lost momentum and crashed in a densely populated area of India's western city of Ahmedabad, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground. Now, a preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has revealed that fuel supply to both engines was cut in the crucial minutes as the aircraft was ascending. The plane's 'black box,' its flight data recorder, showed that the aircraft had reached an airspeed of 180 knots when both engines' fuel switches were 'transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one,' the report says. The switches were flipped within a second of each other, halting the flow of fuel. On an audio recording from the black box, mentioned in the report, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he flipped the switches. The other pilot responds that he did not do so. The report does not specify who was the pilot and who was the co-pilot in the dialogue. Seconds later, the switches on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were flipped the other way to turn the fuel supply back on. Both engines were able to relight, and one began to 'progress to recovery,' the report said, but it was too late to stop the plane's gut-wrenching descent. The report reveals the fundamental reason why the jet crashed, but much remains unexplained. unknown content item - The findings do not make clear how the fuel switches were flipped to the cutoff position during the flight, whether it was deliberate, accidental or if a technical fault was responsible. On Boeing's 787 Dreamliners, the fuel switches are between the two pilots' seats, immediately behind the plane's throttle levers. They are protected on the sides by a metal bar. The switches require an operator to physically lift the switch handle up and over a detent – a catch – as they are deliberately designed so they can't be knocked accidentally. Geoffrey Dell, an air safety specialist who has conducted numerous aircraft accident investigations, finds it hard to see how both switches could have been flipped in error. 'It's at least a two-action process for each one,' he told CNN. 'You've got to pull the switch out towards you and then push it down. It's not the sort of thing you can do inadvertently.' According to Dell, it would be 'bizarre' for a pilot to deliberately cut fuel to both engines immediately after take-off. There is 'no scenario on the planet where you'd do that immediately after lift-off,' he said. Pointing to the fact that both engine switches were flipped within a second of each other, Dell noted: 'That's the sort of thing you do when you park the airplane at the end of the flight… You plug into the terminal and shut the engines down.' One possibility the report raises relates to an information bulletin issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration in 2018 about 'the potential disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature.' But, given that this was not considered an unsafe condition, Air India did not carry out inspections. Dell said an aircraft's flight data recorder should help explain how the fuel switches were flipped in each case. However, India's AAIB has not released a full transcript of the conversation between the two pilots. Without it, Dell says it's difficult to understand what happened. Former pilot Ehsan Khalid also believes that the report's findings raised questions over the position of the vital engine fuel switches, which, he said, should be clarified by the investigators. Speaking to Reuters, Khalid warned against pinning the blame on the pilots. 'The AAIB report to me is only conclusive to say that the accident happened because both engines lost power.' He added: 'The pilots were aware that the aircraft engine power has been lost, and pilots also were aware that they did not do any action to cause this.' A full report is not due for months and India's Civil Aviation Minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, said: 'Let's not jump to any conclusions at this stage.' The Air India jet took off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in India's western state of Gujarat on June 12, bound for London Gatwick. Air India had said 242 passengers and crew members were on board. That included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. Everyone on board was killed, except for one passenger. The 19 people on the ground were killed when the plane crashed into the BJ Medical College and Hospital hostel. Air India has acknowledged that it has received the report and said it will continue cooperating with authorities in the investigation. CNN's Alexandra Skores, Aaron Cooper and Hira Humayun contributed reporting.
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Fuel to Air India jet engines cut off moments before crash: probe
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Engine fuel supply was cut just before Air India jet crash, preliminary report says
A cut in the fuel supply to the engines caused last month's Air India crash that killed 260 people, a preliminary report has found. The London-bound plane had barely left the runway at Ahmedabad airport when it hurtled back to earth. Everyone on board was killed, except for one passenger. According to the report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, obtained by CNN, the fuel control switches in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner had been flipped, starving the engines of fuel. The report does not say whether the control switches were flipped by a person or in another way. Investigators were able to get data out of the plane's 'black box' recorders, including 49 hours of flight data and two hours of cockpit audio, including from the crash. The aircraft had reached an airspeed of 180 knots when both engines' fuel cutoff switches were 'transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec,' according to the report. 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Naresh Maheswari, whose son died in the crash urged the investigators to be neutral, telling India's ANI news agency that 'we want no one else to die due to such carelessness.' The brother-in-law of another of the victims, Niraj Patel, said: 'We want the government to take all kinds of precautions so that people do not lose their family members to such incidents again.' The Air India jet took off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in India's western state of Gujarat on June 12. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was headed to London Gatwick and scheduled to land at 6:25 p.m. local time. Air India had said 242 passengers and crew members were on board. That included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. In addition to those on board, a number of people on the ground were killed when the plane crashed into the BJ Medical College and Hospital hostel. The crash resulted in 260 fatalities total, according to the report. A number of the dead on the ground resulted from the plane hitting the hostel. Air India acknowledged that it received the report and said it will continue cooperating with authorities in the investigation. 'Air India stands in solidarity with the families and those affected by the AI171 accident,' the airline posted to X on Saturday (local time). 'We continue to mourn the loss and are fully committed to providing support during this difficult time.' This story has been updated with additional developments.
