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.
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Hindustan Times
27 minutes ago
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Air India CEO says investigation into Ahmedabad crash raises new questions
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Scroll.in
an hour ago
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Ahmedabad crash report found ‘no mechanical or maintenance issues' with aircraft: Air India CEO
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India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
The worry lines in Air India Flight AI171 crash preliminary report
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'The Boeing Company received reports from operators of Model 737 airplanes that the fuel-control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged,' states the 2018 FAA advisory, detailing: 'The fuel-control switch has a locking feature to prevent inadvertent operation that could result in unintended switch movement between the fuel supply and fuel cut-off positions. In order to move the switch from one position to the other, under the condition where the locking feature is engaged, it is necessary for the pilot to lift the switch up while transitioning the switch position. If the locking feature is disengaged, the switch can be moved between the two positions without lifting the switch during transition, and the switch would be exposed to the potential of inadvertent operation. Inadvertent operation of the switch could result in an unintended consequence, such as an in-flight engine shutdown.'In the case of Flight AI171, the sequence captured by the aircraft's digital flight data recorder (DFDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) is tragically brief. At 08:08:35 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated)—that is around 1:38 pm IST (Indian Standard Time)—the Dreamliner rotated at 155 knots. Four seconds later, it was airborne. Then, within the span of a single heartbeat—one second—both engine fuel cut-off switches abruptly transitioned from 'RUN' to 'CUT-OFF'. Engine parameters immediately began to CVR preserves the stunned disbelief in the cockpit. Captain Sabharwal's voice, sharp with alarm: 'Why have the engines shut down?' To which First Officer Kunder's response that 'I did not do it'. 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Seconds later, Flight AI171, still heavy with fuel, slammed into a densely packed residential suburb just beyond the Ahmedabad airport perimeter. The impact and ensuing fireball were wreckage, scattered over 300 meters, told a grim story: initial contact inside an Army Medical Corps compound, shearing through trees, obliterating the northeast wall of a hostel, carving a path of destruction through five residential blocks before the fuselage disintegrated. The vertical stabiliser lay 60 meters from the first impact point; engines and landing gear were embedded in roads and buildings. All 241 people on board were killed, besides 19 people on the the charred aftermath, teams of investigators from the government's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), with assistance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Boeing and engine-maker GE Aviation, descended upon the site. Drones captured the extent of the damage. Critical information emerged: the flap handle was set at five degrees; the landing gear lever was in down position, as it would be during take-off. Particularly, the mechanical control levers were found jammed in full forward supported the DFDR information, which indicated that full power had been activated down to the final milliseconds of the flight. Its throttle-control module had been replaced twice, once in 2019 and again in 2023, maintenance logs showed. However, there was no information in the logs about reported faults concerning the importantly, neither throttle-control module replacement prompted the specific inspections recommended in the 2018 FAA bulletin. Since the FAA action was not a mandatory airworthiness directive, compliance was left to the operator's discretion. 'We continue to fully cooperate with the AAIB and other authorities as their investigation progresses. Given the active nature of the investigation, we are unable to comment on specific details and refer all such enquiries to the AAIB,' Air India has said in a preliminary report on the crash, adhering to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) principle of prioritising safety over blame, carefully avoids finger-pointing. It outlines the ongoing forensic work: detailed laboratory analysis of the recovered latches and switches; fuel samples and engine components; intense scrutiny of the 49 hours of flight data and two hours of cockpit audio; simulations testing the latching mechanism's integrity under stress; studies of system behaviour during sudden, catastrophic thrust loss; and evaluations of the human-machine interface during critical phases such as the hundreds of families whose lives were forever altered by the deaths in air and on the ground, the lack of closure to the Flight AI171 crash is a bitter truth. But it will come, eventually. Aviation safety experts, however, say the real worth of this investigation will not be in punishment but one former pilot acknowledged: 'If a latch failure, and such an unannounced one at that, can kill both engines at the worst time, you had better understand why and how it happened.' Because every operator of these planes and every passenger boarding them deserves to to India Today Magazine- EndsMust Watch
