Air India says will review preliminary plane crash report with pilots
The 15-page preliminary report by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AIIB), released early on Saturday, has found that the fuel supply to both engines of Air India flight AI171 was cut off within a second of each other, causing confusion in the cockpit and the airplane plummeting back to ground almost immediately after taking off.
On June 12, the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner began to lose thrust almost immediately after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport and ploughed into a medical college hostel, killing all but one of the 242 persons onboard and another 19 on the ground in the deadliest aviation accident in a decade.
'Preliminary investigation report has been officially released in the recent tragic accident involving our flight AI 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick on June 12. As aviation professionals, we understand top importance from every safety event is the learning to ensure safe skies,' Air India senior vice president for flight operations, Manish Uppal, said in a communication to pilots.
This tragedy, he said, has deeply influenced the aviation fraternity and Air India pilot community. 'The initial report gives the airline an initial insight. This is not the last word, but an important step in identifying factors and ensuring that all possible measures are taken to prevent such a tragedy from reoccurring,' he said in the communication.
In the communication, he also said that pilots are trained to stay under pressure, to continuously learn, and to act decisively when it matters most, adding, 'Let us apply the same now. Together, we will reflect, react and rise more than before.'
'We will organise a dedicated session in the coming days to review the report together,' he said in the communication.
The preliminary investigation report into the disaster revealed that fuel-control switches of the two engines moved from the 'run' to the 'cutoff' position, within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude.
In the cockpit voice recording, one pilot is heard asking the other why he cut off the fuel. The other denied having done so.
The investigation was conducted with assistance from the U.K.'s Air Accident Investigation Branch and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
Aviation experts have said it is difficult for pilots to inadvertently move the fuel switches, as there is a little mechanical gate built into the switch. Switches need to be lifted up over this little gate to shut off supply. They also asked why the report made no reference to cockpit camera footage.
The Airlines Pilots Association of India raised the issue with the report, saying the investigation is 'shrouded in secrecy', appears to be biased against the pilot and has come to a conclusion hastily.
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Hindustan Times
25 minutes ago
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Too low, too late: When fuel emergencies become deadly
From the 'Gimli Glider' that ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet to general aviation pilots who selected empty tanks, a four-decade pattern of aviation accidents show that fuel management errors consistently prove fatal when altitude and time work against recovery efforts. Too low, too late: When fuel emergencies become deadly An analysis of the US National Transportation Safety Board reports suggests that 95% of fuel-related aviation accidents stem from human error rather than mechanical failure, with pilots repeatedly making critical mistakes in high-stress situations involving fuel controls, tank selectors and cut-off switches. The margin for error becomes razor-thin during the most demanding phases of flight. What separates survival from catastrophe often comes down to precious seconds and hundreds of feet of altitude — factors that determine whether crews have sufficient time to diagnose problems, execute recovery procedures and restart failed systems before impact. The deadly arithmetic was evident in Air India Flight 171 crash, where a preliminary investigation report revealed both engine fuel cut-off switches moved from 'RUN' to 'CUTOFF' position just one second apart during take-off. Despite crew attempts to restore fuel flow within 10-14 seconds, the Boeing 787 crashed 32 seconds after lift-off, killing 260 people. To be sure, the circumstances of why the cut-off was engaged is unclear. Cockpit voice recordings captured one pilot asking his colleague why he engaged that switch, to which the other pilot said he hadn't. In the moments that followed, the pilots attempted to fix the error and the engines appeared to be coming back online but there was simply not enough time. The 1983 case of Air Canada Flight 143 illustrates how altitude could have saved lives. When the Boeing 767 lost both engines after it ran out of fuel at cruising altitude, pilots had nearly 20 minutes to glide 65 miles to an emergency landing at Gimli, Manitoba. All 69 people survived. Contrast that with cases where fuel emergencies occur during take-off or approach phases. A recent Nashville crash killed five family members when a pilot of a small plane incorrectly positioned a fuel selector during approach, starving the engine of fuel, with insufficient altitude for recovery. An NTSB annual statistic compilation focussing on fuel-related issues in 2017 shows fuel management causes more than 50 general aviation (smaller plane) accidents yearly, with nearly half involving commercial or air transport-rated pilots — dispelling assumptions that experience prevents such errors. But these have reduced over the years, especially as planes themselves have become more sophisticated. Historical cases reveal recurring human factors: confusion under pressure, inadequate training on fuel systems, and design vulnerabilities in aircraft controls. The 1978 United Airlines Flight 173 crash — where crew focus on a landing gear problem led to fuel exhaustion — prompted development of modern crew resource management training used industry-wide. Switch and selector design has emerged as a persistent vulnerability. Multiple accidents involve pilots moving fuel controls to incorrect positions or failing to fully seat selectors between marked positions. The locking mechanism in fuel switches was thus a response to that. The NTSB continues to cite fuel management as the sixth leading cause of general aviation accidents, with investigators noting that proper training and procedural compliance could prevent the vast majority of these incidents.
Time of India
44 minutes ago
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Ahmedabad plane crash: Emotional effect real, support available for you; Air India tells its pilots after AAIB's preliminary report
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Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Pilot error? Don't jump to conclusions, there are other questions: Experts on Ahmedabad plane crash
THE PRELIMINARY report of the ongoing investigation into the June 12 crash of Air India flight AI 171 is far more detailed than what industry veterans and experts expected, and gives an indication of the direction the probe may be headed in. The 15-page report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), an office attached to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has zeroed in on the most probable primary cause of the accident— the engines being starved of fuel with the transitioning of the fuel control switches from 'RUN' to 'CUTOFF' position within a second of each other moments after lift-off. From the cockpit voice recorder data, the report notes that one of the pilots asked the other why he cut off the fuel, to which the other pilot responded saying he did not. While some interpret these findings as hinting at human error, aviation industry veterans said it is too premature to arrive at any conclusion based on just the preliminary report. The report, they said, does answer some key questions, but also raises many that only a meticulous investigation would be able to clear up. Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu warned against jumping to conclusions and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said commenting or drawing any conclusion on the basis of the preliminary report wouldn't be appropriate. 'The initial finding that the fuel control switches went to cut-off mode is truly shocking. They (investigators) now have the most probable cause, and now they must investigate to figure out how it happened and why it happened. These are the key questions that must be answered in the final investigation report. The real investigation has actually started now,' a former air accident investigator told The Indian Express. An aircraft is an extremely sophisticated and complex machine, and detailed and painstaking investigations are required to ascertain the exact cause or combination of causes. The odds that an aviation accident has a single trigger are rare; there could be many, or one leading to another. The AAIB is expected to release the final probe report within a year of the crash, as per international guidelines. To be sure, the report just says the engine fuel control switches that allow and cut fuel flow to the plane's engines transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF. It does not state these were moved by either of the pilots to the CUTOFF mode. The report does mention one pilot asking the other why he cut-off fuel supply, with the other responding he didn't. Experts say accidental movement of the switches is not quite possible. The spring-loaded switches have brackets on either side to protect them and there is a stop lock mechanism that requires the pilots to lift the switch up before moving it between either of its two positions—RUN and CUTOFF. 'No sane pilot would move the switches during the flight and that too at such low altitude, unless there was a dual engine failure to be dealt with. And even that would be in coordination, not a unilateral move. Moving them by accident is also not really a possibility, as they have to be pulled up to disengage the lock and then moved mechanically to one or the other mode,' said a senior airline pilot with years of experience on the Boeing 787 aircraft. Experts believe only the full audio and transcript of the cockpit voice recorder would be able to give more information on the pilots' discussions and actions in the cockpit in the minutes leading up to the tragedy. Meanwhile, a pilot association has raised concerns on the direction the AI 171 crash investigation appears to be taking. 'The tone and direction of the investigation suggest a bias toward pilot error. ALPA-I categorically reject this presumption and insist on a fair, fact-based inquiry,' Sam Thomas, president of the Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA-I) said in a statement. The pilots' body has reiterated its request to be included 'at the very least, as observers' in the air crash investigation. 'Apart from looking into the action of pilots, the investigators should look if the fuel switch cut-off could be due to any other electrical or system-related issues. Could it be an electrical or software malfunction that signalled to the aircraft system that the switches were in cut-off mode, even if they had not been actually moved?' a senior airline pilot asked, considering the Boeing 787 is a modern electrically heavy aircraft. Another airline pilot said it was theoretically possible to have such a scenario without the physical movement of the switches. Further analysis of the aircraft's black boxes should be able to establish whether the switches were indeed moved mechanically, or whether the cut-off was due to some other issue. The pilots and the former aircraft accident investigator concurred that during the critical take-off phase of the flight, pilots had no business in keeping their hands anywhere close to the fuel control switches, as per established standard operating procedures. This is to prevent accidental or inadvertent toggling of any critical switch. The fact that the preliminary report has not issued any recommendation to the operators of the Boeing 787 aircraft and the GE GEnx-1B engines suggests that the investigators, at least for the time being, do not have sufficient reason to believe that an electrical or system malfunction could have led to the fuel control switches 'transitioning' to CUTOFF. Experts also pointed out that these switches are manual and not motorised, and cannot be physically moved by electrical signals or the plane's avionics. Notably, the report also makes mention of the 2018 Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), regarding the 'potential disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature'. Air India, however, did not carry out the inspection as the SAIB was merely advisory and not mandatory. Moreover, the cockpit's throttle control module—which houses the fuel control switches among others—was replaced in 2019 and 2023, but the reason for replacement was not linked to the fuel control switches. The initial report said that no defect pertaining to the fuel control switches on the aircraft was reported since 2023. Nevertheless, could the disengagement of the switch lock, component fatigue, or a mechanical failure move the switches? Experts said this is unlikely. The possibility of even one disengaged switch being flicked by accident was highly unlikely, they said, pointing out the report's findings that both switches appeared to have changed positions. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More
