Air India 'issued warning six years before 260 people killed in horror crash'
Air India was warned about wrongly installed fuel switches more than six years before the horror crash which killed 260 people, it was claimed today.
Investigators are said to be probing if the loss of power shortly after take off occurred because two fuel switches in the cockpit of Air India Flight 171 were turned off. The switches' "locking feature" meant pilots had to lift them up before changing their position.
But a preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said in December 2018 the US air regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines that fuel switches had been installed in some Boeing 737s "with the locking feature disengaged".
"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," the FAA warned in a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin. "Inadvertent operation of the switch could result in an unintended consequence, such as an in-flight engine shutdown."
It recommended airlines inspect the switches, including "whether the fuel control switch can be moved between the two positions without lifting up the switch". Air India suggested such inspections were not carried out because the FAA's bulletin was "advisory and not mandatory", according to the report.
The AAIB report says the fuel control switch design, including the locking feature, is similar on various Boeing airplane models including part number 4TL837-3D fitted in the 787-8 Dreamliner, the model that crashed in Ahmedabad.
It comes just days after it was claimed human error had caused the catastrophic crash, with the AAIB suggesting both pilots on the doomed Air India flight had denied cutting off the plane's fuel switches. The report says: "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he did the cut-off. The other pilot responded that he did not do so."
However, victims' families have blasted the report and accused authorities of rushing to blame the pilots for the disaster. "This report is wrong. We don't accept it," said Ameen Siddiqui, 28, whose brother-in-law Akeel Nanabawa died alongside his wife, Hannaa Vorajee, and their daughter, Sara, four.
Akeel, who grew up in Newport, South Wales, was returning to his home in Gloucestershire with his wife and child. "It's a cover-up," Mr Siddiqui told The Telegraph from Surat, south of Ahmedabad. "They want to blame dead pilots who can't defend themselves. How can the fuel switches end up turning off at a critical moment, either through pilot error or a mechanical fault?
"And if these pilots were so careless, why did the government allow them to fly at all? Air India until recently was owned by the government." Mr Siddiqui added: "We have rejected Air India's compensation. We will take them to court. They have to answer our questions and take responsibility.
"We have seen the videos of the passengers and pilots before the take off. Everyone was happy in the plane including the pilots. You could not find a ting of sadness, fear or anger on anyone's face. Why will they [pilots] turn the fuel switches off deliberately. Everyone was smiling."
However, the report was described as "the first stepping stone" by Akeel's relatives. In a statement, they said: "Moving forwards, we require honesty, transparency, and an unwavering commitment to uncovering the full truth. We seek justice and answers, both of which are essential for us to find any sense of closure.
"We accept God's fate, but knowing what happened will help ease our hearts and allow us to begin the long journey of healing."
Fifty-two Britons were among 260 who died when the Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into a medical college after taking off from Ahmedabad a month ago. Air India Flight 171, bound for London Gatwick, crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on June 12. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national, was the sole survivor among those on board.
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Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Air India captain's eerie words to first officer before they squabbled over fuel switches 'are revealed in black box recording' - and 'could support theory pilot is to blame for deadly crash'
The captain of Air India Flight 171, which crashed in Ahmedabad killing 241 people on board last month, entrusted his first officer with the plane before takeoff, sources have claimed, citing the black boxes recovered from the crash. 'The plane is in your hands,' Captain Sumeet Sabharwal told First Officer Clive Kunder, two Western sources familiar with the contents of the recordings told Corriere della Sera. The sources said it was not unusual for the captain of a flight to yield the controls to a first officer during takeoff. But pilots familiar with the preliminary report into the crash assessed that Mr Kunder would have 'had his hands full' flying the plane at the time. The plane left the ground at 1:38:39pm and remained airborne for about 30 seconds before losing power and coming down in a residential area, killing 19 people on the ground and all but one person on board. Before the crash, Mr Kunder asked the captain why he had moved the fuel switches into a position that starved the engines of fuel, a source briefed on U.S. officials' early assessment of evidence told Reuters. A full transcript has not been released and the matter is still under investigation. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is leading the investigation into the crash, but others have reviewed the flight recorder's contents. Corriere's sources said Mr Kunder was heard asking the senior pilot: 'Why did you shut off the engines?' Another microphone recorded a 'vague' denial: 'I didn't do it'. The outlet reports that Mr Kunder was 'unconvinced' and asked the same question 'several more times' over a further six seconds. Reuters' source assessed that the cockpit recording of dialogue supported the view that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane's engines. Seconds after taking off on June 12, two fuel switches in the cockpit of Air India Flight 171 were turned off, a preliminary report revealed on Sunday The plane momentarily disappeared from view behind trees and buildings before a massive fireball erupted on the horizon in this horrifying clip A preliminary report released by India's AAIB on Saturday confirmed that the fuel switches had switched from 'run' to 'cutoff' just after takeoff -- but did not say how they were moved, nor speculate whether it was deliberate or accidental. The report did not find any mechanical or maintenance faults on the flight. Timeline of disaster 1:38:39 - The plane lifted off the runway in Ahmedabad 1:38:42 - The engines were defueled as the plane reached 180 knots The left engine fuel control switch transitions from the run to cutoff position, followed by the right 1:38:44 - Dispute between pilots over alleged 'cutting off of fuel' to the engines The other pilot responds that he did not cutoff the fuel 1:38:47 - RAT deployed, supplying hydraulic power to the aircraft and indicating loss of power from engines 1:38:52 - Fuel switch moved from 'Cutoff' to 'Run' on engine 1 1:38:56 - Switch changed on engine 2 1:39:05 - Mayday transmission signals life-threatening emergency 13:39:11 - Flight data recorders stop recording It did say that one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel and 'the other pilot responded that he did not do so.' Investigators did not identify which remarks were made by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and which by First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively. There was no cockpit video recording definitively showing which pilot flipped the switches, but the weight of evidence from the conversation points to the captain, according to the early assessment by U.S. officials. Citing U.S. pilots familiar with the AAIB report, the Wall Street Journal reported this week that 'as the pilot actively flying, [First Officer] Kunder likely would have had his hands full pulling back on the Dreamliner's controls at that stage of the flight'. 'Sabharwal, as the pilot monitoring, would have been more likely to have had his hands free as he oversaw the operation.' According to the report, the switches were apparently moved in succession, one second apart, before both were turned back on about 10 seconds later. The movement of the fuel control switches allows and cuts fuel flow to the plane's engines. The report did not say how the switches could have flipped to the cutoff position during the flight. The switches' 'locking feature' meant pilots had to lift them up before changing their position - they are not simple push buttons that can be accidentally turned off. Almost immediately after the plane lifted off the ground, closed-circuit TV footage showed a backup energy source called a ram air turbine (RAT) had deployed, indicating a loss of power from the engines. The London-bound plane began to lose thrust, and after reaching a height of 650 feet, the jet started to sink. The fuel switches for both engines were indeed turned back to 'run', and the airplane automatically tried restarting the engines, the report said. But the plane could not gain power quickly enough to stop its descent. The report stated: 'One of the pilots transmitted "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY"'. The plane clipped some trees and a chimney before crashing in a fireball into a building on a nearby medical college campus, the report said, killing 19 people on the ground and 241 of the 242 on board. Both fuel switches were found in the run position at the crash site. 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,' he told Sky News. Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said in an internal memo on Monday that the preliminary report into the crash found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out. Wilson also urged the airline's staff to avoid drawing premature conclusions about the crash. India 's civil aviation minister, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, echoed that 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. Investigators are said to be looking at the medical records of the pilots as part of their probe. Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a leading aviation safety expert in India, claimed that one of the pilots had suffered with their mental health, citing other Air India pilots. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, he claimed: 'He had taken time off from flying in the last three to four years. He had taken medical leave for that.' Captain Sabharwal is also understood to have taken bereavement leave after the death of his mother, though Mr Ranganathan understands that he had been 'medically cleared' by Air India prior to the fatal crash last month. Air India, in a statement, said it is fully cooperating with authorities investigating the crash. A final report is expected within a year. The AAIB's preliminary report had no safety recommendations for Boeing or engine manufacturer GE. The AAIB, which is leading the investigation, said in a statement on Thursday that 'certain sections of the international media are repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting.' It added the investigation was ongoing and it remained too early to draw definitive conclusions. Most air crashes are caused by multiple factors, and under international rules, a final report is expected within a year of an accident. The plane´s black boxes - combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders - were recovered in the days following the crash and later downloaded in India. Indian authorities had also ordered deeper checks of Air India´s entire Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet to prevent future incidents. Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet.
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
Should commercial airliners be equipped with cockpit video cameras in aftermath of deadly Air India crash?
The crash of Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad last month, which killed 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground, has reignited a long-standing debate in aviation circles: should commercial airliners be equipped with cockpit video cameras? With questions swirling over whether one of the pilots cut off the fuel supply seconds after takeoff, some safety experts argue that video footage could have helped investigators reconstruct the final moments more definitively. An initial analysis of the cockpit voice recorder recovered from the Air India flight that crashed last month seems to suggest that the younger co-pilot asked the captain why he had turned off the plane's fuel-supply switches, according to a US media report. 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, and it was he who asked flight captain Sumeet Sabharwal why he had flipped the switches, starving the engines of fuel. The captain, according to the voice recorder, responded by saying that he did not. 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. Willie Walsh, head of the International Air Transport Association and a former pilot himself, said this week there is now a strong case for cockpit video cameras to be installed to complement existing flight data and voice recorders. Aviation experts have said a preliminary report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) raised questions over whether one of the pilots of Air India flight 171 cut off fuel to the Boeing 787's engines seconds after takeoff, leading to an irrecoverable situation. As of now, 'based on what little we know now, it's quite possible that a video recording, in addition to the voice recording, would significantly assist the investigators in conducting that investigation on the issue of mental health,' Walsh said. Advocates for cockpit video cameras say the footage could fill in gaps left by the audio and data recorders, while opponents say concerns about privacy and misuse outweigh what they argue are marginal benefits for investigations. Video footage was 'invaluable' to Australian crash investigators determining what led to the Robinson R66 helicopter breaking up in mid-air in 2023, killing the pilot, the only person aboard, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau 's final report, which was released 18 days after the Air India crash. The video showed 'the pilot was occupied with non-flying related tasks for much of this time, specifically, mobile phone use and the consumption of food and beverages,' the report said. The ATSB commended Robinson Helicopters for providing factory-installed cameras and said it encouraged other manufacturers and owners to consider the ongoing safety benefits of similar devices. In 2000, US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Jim Hall urged the Federal Aviation Administration to require commercial airliners to be equipped with cockpit image recorders. Hall's recommendation came in the wake of 1999's Egyptair Flight 990 crash, when the first officer intentionally crashed the Boeing 767, according to the NTSB, killing all 217 people on board. 'In the balance between privacy and safety, the scale tips toward safety, unequivocally,' air safety expert and former commercial airline pilot John Nance said. 'Protecting the flying public is a sacred obligation.' Another aviation safety expert, Anthony Brickhouse, said that as an accident investigator, he is in favour of cockpit video, but acknowledged that commercial pilots have real concerns. Video on Air India flight 171 'would have answered lots of questions', he said. Air India declined to comment. India's AAIB, which is expected to release a final report within a year of the crash under international rules, did not reply to a request for comment. Pilot objections: US pilots' unions such as the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Allied Pilots Association (APA) say the voice and data recorders already provide enough information to determine the cause of a crash and that the cameras would be an invasion of privacy and could be misused. Calls for cockpit cameras are an understandable reaction to 'the stress of not knowing what happened immediately after an accident,' said APA spokesperson Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot. 'I can understand the initial reaction of the more information, the better,' but investigators already have enough data to adequately determine an accident's cause, leaving no need for cameras, he said. To make flying safer, current safety systems should be enhanced to record higher-quality data, rather than adding video cameras, an ALPA spokesperson said. There are also concerns that the footage could be used by airlines for disciplinary actions or that the video could be leaked to the public after a crash, said John Cox, an aviation safety expert, retired airline pilot and former ALPA executive air safety chairman. A pilot's death being broadcast on 'the 6 o'clock news is not something that the pilot's family should ever have to go through', he said. If confidentiality can be assured around the world, 'I can see an argument' for installing cameras, Cox said. Cockpit voice recordings are typically kept confidential by investigators in favour of partial or full transcripts being released in final reports. Despite that, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations said it was sceptical that confidentiality could ever be assured for cockpit videos. 'Given the high demand for sensational pictures, IFALPA has absolutely no doubt that the protection of (airborne image recorder) data, which can include identifiable images of flight crewmembers, would not be ensured either,' the organisation said in a statement.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Air India captain's eerie words to his first officer before doomed jet crashed killing 260 'are revealed in black box recording'
The captain of Air India Flight 171, which crashed in Ahmedabad killing 241 people on board last month, entrusted his first officer with the plane before takeoff, sources have claimed, citing the black boxes recovered from the crash. 'The plane is in your hands,' Captain Sumeet Sabharwal allegedly told First Officer Clive Kunder, two Western sources familiar with the contents of the recordings told Corriere della Sera. The sources said it was not unusual for the captain of a flight to yield the controls to a first officer during takeoff. The plane left the ground at 1:38:39pm and remained airborne for about 30 seconds before losing power and crashing into a residential area. Mr Kunder was at the controls of the Boeing 787 and asked the captain why he moved the fuel switches into a position that starved the engines of fuel, a source briefed on U.S. officials' early assessment told Reuters. He was said to have requested that he restore the fuel flow before the crash. 'Why did you shut off the engines?' Mr Kunder asked the senior pilot, according to Corriere's sources. Another microphone recorded a 'vague' denial: 'I didn't do it'. The outlet reports that Mr Kunder was 'unconvinced' and asked the same question 'several more times' over a further six seconds. A preliminary report released by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Saturday confirmed that the fuel switches had switched from 'run' to 'cutoff' just after takeoff -- but did not say how they were moved. The report also said one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel and 'the other pilot responded that he did not do so.' Investigators did not identify which remarks were made by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and which by First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively. There was no cockpit video recording definitively showing which pilot flipped the switches, but the weight of evidence from the conversation points to the captain, according to the early assessment by U.S. officials. The plane momentarily disappeared from view behind trees and buildings before a massive fireball erupted on the horizon in this horrifying clip The Wall Street Journal first reported similar information on Wednesday about the world's deadliest aviation accident in a decade. Citing U.S. pilots familiar with the AAIB report, the outlet reported that 'as the pilot actively flying, [First Officer] Kunder likely would have had his hands full pulling back on the Dreamliner's controls at that stage of the flight'. 'Sabharwal, as the pilot monitoring, would have been more likely to have had his hands free as he oversaw the operation.' According to the report, the switches were apparently moved in succession, one second apart, before both were turned back on about 10 seconds later. The movement of the fuel control switches allows and cuts fuel flow to the plane's engines. The report did not say how the switches could have flipped to the cutoff position during the flight. The switches' 'locking feature' meant pilots had to lift them up before changing their position - they are not simple push buttons that can be accidentally turned off. Almost immediately after the plane lifted off the ground, closed-circuit TV footage showed a backup energy source called a ram air turbine (RAT) had deployed, indicating a loss of power from the engines. The London-bound plane began to lose thrust, and after reaching a height of 650 feet, the jet started to sink. The fuel switches for both engines were indeed turned back to 'run', and the airplane automatically tried restarting the engines, the report said. But the plane could not gain power quickly enough to stop its descent. The report stated: 'One of the pilots transmitted "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY"'. The plane clipped some trees and a chimney before crashing in a fireball into a building on a nearby medical college campus, the report said, killing 19 people on the ground and 241 of the 242 on board. Both fuel switches were found in the run position at the crash site. 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. 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. Investigators are said to be looking at the medical records of the pilots as part of their probe. Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a leading aviation safety expert in India, claimed that one of the pilots had suffered with their mental health, citing other Air India pilots. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, he claimed: 'He had taken time off from flying in the last three to four years. He had taken medical leave for that.' Captain Sabharwal is also understood to have taken bereavement leave after the death of his mother, though Mr Ranganathan understands that he had been 'medically cleared' by Air India prior to the fatal crash last month. Air India, in a statement, said it is fully cooperating with authorities investigating the crash. A final report is expected within a year. In an internal memo on Monday, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out. Wilson also urged the airline's staff to avoid drawing premature conclusions about the crash. The AAIB's preliminary report had no safety recommendations for Boeing or engine manufacturer GE. The AAIB, which is leading the investigation, said in a statement on Thursday that 'certain sections of the international media are repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting.' It added the investigation was ongoing and it remained too early to draw definitive conclusions. Most air crashes are caused by multiple factors, and under international rules, a final report is expected within a year of an accident. The plane´s black boxes - combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders - were recovered in the days following the crash and later downloaded in India. Indian authorities had also ordered deeper checks of Air India´s entire Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet to prevent future incidents. Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet.
