Air India cockpit audio reportedly reveals younger co-pilot confronting captain over fuel switches
First officer Clive Kunder had the controls of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for take-off and at the time of the crash moments later outside Ahmedabad airport, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
Citing sources in the investigation, the report said it was Mr Kunder who asked flight captain Sumeet Sabharwal why he had flipped the switches, starving the engines of fuel.
It represents a potentially important new detail, emerging several days after a preliminary official report in the crash revealed only that the brief interaction had taken place, without naming who said what or quoting them directly.
Air India Flight 171 crashed into a medical college less than a minute after take-off from Ahmedabad in western India. It was on its way to Gatwick Airport – 241 people on board were killed along with another 19 on the ground. Only one passenger survived the crash.
The preliminary report, issued a month after the crash in line with international regulations, has sparked controversy with a pilots' association accusing it of trying to place the blame on Mr Sabharwal and Mr Kunder without conclusive evidence.
The Federation of Indian Pilots said the 15-page report released lacks comprehensive data and appears to rely selectively on paraphrased cockpit voice recordings to suggest pilot error and question the professional competence and integrity of the flight crew. (© The Independent)
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