Air India captain ‘cut off' fuel to engines
The first officer, who was flying the Boeing 787-9, questioned why the captain had moved switches to the cut-off position, according to a US assessment of the black-box data.
The first officer reportedly expressed surprise and panicked, while the captain remained calm, the Wall Street Journal reported.
It follows a preliminary report released by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's (AAIB) that found that switches controlling fuel flow to the jet's two engines were turned off, leading to a catastrophic loss of thrust at take-off.
According to the report, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why 'did you cut off' the fuel supply in the recovered cockpit voice recording. The other pilot responded that he 'didn't'.
It was not previously clear who said what. However, sources in the US who have reviewed the cockpit voice recordings told the Wall Street Journal that it was the captain who was questioned about why he cut off fuel to engines.
The switches were moved in succession, one second apart, according to the report. Some 10 seconds later, the switches were turned back on. The report did not say whether the switches may have been turned off accidentally or deliberately.
Sumeet Sabharwal, the captain, and Clive Kundar, the co-pilot had more than 9,000 hours of flying time between them.
On Sunday, The Telegraph revealed that Air India crash investigators are examining the medical records of Mr Sabharwal amid claims that he suffered from depression and mental health problems.
Captain Sabharwal, 56, who had been considering leaving the airline to look after his elderly father following the death of his mother in 2022.
All but one of 242 people on board the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were killed when the aircraft plunged into a medical student hostel in a built-up suburb last month, less than a minute after take-off from Ahmedabad airport.
In the moments before the disaster, Mr Sabharwal issued a mayday call. However, after the aircraft reached a maximum altitude of barely 400ft above the runway all contact was lost. The plane then fell towards the ground and exploded on impact.
Campbell Wison, the Air India chief executive, said in a staff memo that the report had 'triggered a new round of speculation in the media'.
Mr Wilson said the report identified no cause nor made any recommendations and urged people to avoid drawing premature conclusions as investigation was far from over.
The crash was the first fatal accident involving Boeing's Dreamliner. However, the airline had already suffered reputational damage after a string of safety and quality problems.
The Dreamliner, which entered service in 2011, is popular among commercial airlines and is commonly used on international long-haul routes.
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