Latest news with #BoeingDreamliner787-8
NDTV
22-07-2025
- Business
- NDTV
"No Issues Found": Air India Inspects Fuel Control Switch On Boeing Jets
New Delhi: Weeks after India witnessed one of its worst air crashes in decades, Air India has said that it has completed its inspection of the locking mechanism of the fuel control switch on its Boeing 787 and Boeing 737 aircraft and found no issues. The June 12 crash involving a Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 had left 271 people dead. Air India had voluntarily taken up the precautionary checks after a preliminary report on July 12 revealed the aircraft's fuel switches were found in a cut-off position. The checks were necessary to ensure that it could not be moved accidentally. On July 14, an advisory by India's aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) followed, calling for fuel switch checks on some aircraft models by July 21. Both Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express have complied with the DGCA directive, the Tata-owned airline said. "In the inspections, no issues were found with the said locking mechanism. Air India had started voluntary inspections on 12 July and completed them within the prescribed time limit set by the DGCA. The same has been communicated to the regulator," their statement read. Reuters report. The AAIB, which is probing the air crash, released its initial findings on July 12. Besides the fuel switch cut-off, the report had revealed that the pilots tried to relight the engines. There was no evidence of sabotage or birdhit in the 15-page report. The airline had then pointed out that the report found no mechanical or maintenance issue with the aircraft, its engines, or the fuel quality, and assured that every Boeing 787 aircraft in the Air India fleet was checked and found to be fit within days after the crash. In an internal note last week, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson had also disapproved of speculations amid an apparent Western media campaign to blame pilot actions for the crash. "Until a final report or cause is tabled, there will no doubt be new rounds of speculation and more sensational headlines," Mr Wilson had said, urging employees to "stop drawing premature conclusions". The government has also warned that these findings are preliminary, and one must wait for the final report.
Indian Express
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Air India crash probe: ‘AAIB totally unbiased…want to stand with truth,' says Civil Aviation Minister Naidu in Rajya Sabha
On Day 1 of the Monsoon session of the Parliament Monday, a series of questions were raised on the ongoing Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau-led (AAIB) investigation into the June 12 Air India plane crash near Ahmedabad airport which claimed 260 lives including 241 of the 242 onboard and 19 others on the ground. Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu, addressing the Upper House during the Question Hour, said the AAIB is 'totally unbiased' and is carrying out a definitive and rule-based probe. 'We want to stand with truth, not anything else… we want to find out what exactly happened in the Air India plane crash and that will come out only after AAIB final probe report,' Naidu said, addressing speculations over the AAIB's preliminary probe report on the Ahmedabad-London Gatwick bound plane, released on July 12. Naidu also said that in a first of its kind instance, the AAIB has been successful in decoding data from black boxes of the crashed Air India plane in India itself. The autonomous body's team probing the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 crash is a multidisciplinary team including its AAIB Director General GVG Yugandhar, an aviation medicine specialist, an air traffic control officer, and representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). While the initial report came under the scanner for being worded beyond the mandate and giving additional details, but selectively, chief Yugandhar said: 'The purpose of the AAIB's investigation and preliminary report is to provide information about 'WHAT' happened… At this stage, it is too early to reach to any definite conclusions. The investigation…is still not complete. The Final Investigation Report will come out with root causes and recommendations,' The full report is expected in about a year's time. On June 12 (Thursday), the Boeing plane—operating flight AI 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick—crashed moments after take-off, killing 260 people, including 241 of the 242 on board and 19 on the ground. According to the 15-page report, the flight lasted 'around 30 seconds' between lift-off and crash.
Indian Express
20-07-2025
- General
- Indian Express
Air India crash probe: From black box retrieval to AAIB's preliminary report — a timeline of key events
Exactly a month after the deadly aviation disaster, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary report of the investigation into the June 12 Air India plane crash near Ahmedabad airport which killed 260 people. The probe led by the autonomous body is under the spotlight, more so since the release of its 15-page initial report on July 12, post midnight. The AAIB team probing the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 crash is a multidisciplinary team including its AAIB Director General GVG Yugandhar, an aviation medicine specialist, an air traffic control officer, and representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). While the initial report came under the scanner for being worded beyond the mandate and giving additional details, but selectively, chief Yugandhar said: 'The purpose of the AAIB's investigation and preliminary report is to provide information about 'WHAT' happened… At this stage, it is too early to reach to any definite conclusions. The investigation…is still not complete. The Final Investigation Report will come out with root causes and recommendations,' The full report is expected in about a year's time. As the AAIB-led investigation continues to be watched globally, here's a timeline of key events in the probe so far: On June 12 (Thursday), the Boeing plane—operating flight AI 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick—crashed moments after take-off, killing 260 people, including 241 of the 242 on board and 19 on the ground. According to the 15-page report, the flight lasted 'around 30 seconds' between lift-off and crash. This was the worst aviation disaster involving an Indian airline in at least four decades, and the first fatal crash of 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's latest generation wide-body aircraft. -Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) launches an investigation into the Air India crash. -The aft Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFR) or the rear black box from the tail section of the plane is found from the rooftop of the BJ Medical College hostel mess building. It had suffered extensive internal thermal damage, as per officials. Two days after the crash, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) held a briefing where no questions were taken. Up until the release of the official preliminary report, there were just a few press releases on the status of the probe The next day, a team led by a NTSB representative including those from Boeing, GE and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) arrived in Ahmedabad and participated in the on-site investigation. A team of officials from AAIB's team from the UK also arrived and visited the site with Yugandhar, the initial report specifies. The second black box unit (the forward EAFR) is also recovered from debris at the crash site near Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. It was burnt and covered in soot. Two black boxes from General Electric Co (GE.N), one in the aircraft's front and another at the rear, are installed on Boeing's 787 jets, as per news agency Reuters. Both contain a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder with the same sets of data. Both EAFRs are transported from Ahmedabad to the AAIB's facility in New Delhi. The data from damaged flight recorders was downloaded by the AAIB after sourcing 'Golden Chassis' and relevant download cables from the DGCA and other Accident Investigation Authorities, the report states. Here, the required 'Golden Chassis' (Identical EAFR unit) and Download cables were sourced from the US via the NTSB on June 23. The downloaded flight data contained approximately 49 hours of flight data and 6 flights, including the event flight. The findings of the preliminary investigation report released by the AAIB provide the most detailed account of the incident on June 12. It revealed that the aircraft's engine fuel control switches transitioned from 'RUN' to 'CUTOFF' position within a second of each other moments after lift-off. To be sure, the report doesn't mention that the fuel control switches — which allow and cut fuel flow to the plane's engines — moved physically, and uses the term 'transitioned' to describe the change of mode from RUN to CUTOFF. It also does not state these were moved by either of the pilots. From the cockpit voice recorder data, the preliminary probe 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. The pilot flying was co-pilot Clive Kunder, while pilot-in-command Sumeet Sabharwal was pilot monitoring for this flight. The report also said there were no recommended actions to Boeing or GE at this stage, indicating that a fault in the aircraft or engines was unlikely. In an appeal issued on Thursday, AAIB Director General Yugandhar urged the public and the media to 'refrain from spreading premature narratives' around the ongoing investigation. He also said that sections of the international media are 'repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting', and termed it 'irresponsible' as the investigation is still on. Meanwhile on this day, The Indian Express reported that the investigators were examining the history of technical snags and the possibility of system malfunction that can impact the FADEC's (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) Engine Control Unit (the brain of the aircraft) to trigger 'uncommanded' actions. Urging everyone to avoid speculation, the head of the US probe agency Jennifer Homendy termed recent media reports surrounding the probable causes of the crash as 'premature and speculative'. This comes close on the heels of reports by a few US-based publications suggesting that deliberate action by one of the pilots was most likely the cause of the crash.
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Business Standard
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Won't be correct to reach a conclusion...: Civil Aviation MoS AI 171 crash
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol on Thursday said it would not be appropriate to draw conclusions on the Air India AI 171 crash based on preliminary findings, noting that the report released by the Aircraft Accidents Bureau (AAIB) is only on a "primary base," and the full facts will emerge only after the final report is released. "I think their report is on a primary base. They have also said that this is not the final report. So, it won't be correct to reach a conclusion. When the final report comes, everything will come out that what was the reason," the Civil Aviation MoS told mediapersons here. The minister's remarks come in the wake of a Wall Street Journal report on the Air India AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad. The report cites people familiar with US officials' early assessment of evidence uncovered in the investigation into the crash, which killed 260 people. Reuters reported earlier, citing the Wall Street Journal report, that the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month indicated that the captain turned off the switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane's engines. "I think this is a primary report by AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau). I have said this earlier too, that soon after the incident, within 24 hours, the AAIB team and other agencies together retrieved the black box. Data was recovered from the black box which was in the custody of AAIB," Mohol added. Notably, Veteran pilot Captain Sharath Panicker urged people to "stick to the facts," pointing out that the report does not mention pilot error as a reason anywhere for the crash. "Nowhere does the (AAIB) report say that the Captain turned off the switches. Let's stick to the facts. The full input is available with the AAIB, and once that comes out, only then can we say anything about this," he told ANI. The Wall Street Journal's report says that cockpit recording suggests the first officer, who was flying the Boeing aircraft, opened the new tab 787 Dreamliner, asked the other captain, who was more experienced, why he moved the switches to the "cutoff" position after it climbed off the runway. The first officer expressed surprise and then panicked, while the captain seemed to remain calm, according to the media report. The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had a total of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours of flying experience, respectively. The AI 171 crash of the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, killed 260 people, including 229 passengers, 12 crew members, and 19 people on the ground. Miraculously, one passenger survived the crash.
The Hindu
17-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Air India crash: Report claims state of ‘confusion' between pilots, says former DGCA flight operations inspector
Former Flight Operations Inspector with the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), Captain Prashant Dhalla, spoke to ANI on Thursday (July 17, 2025) regarding the Wall Street Journal's news report on the Air India AI 171 crash that occurred in Ahmedabad last month. Captain Dhalla emphasised the word 'transitioned', which was mentioned in the report. He further explained that this report suggests a challenge-and-response dynamic exists between the two pilots, with one questioning the other, and a state of confusion. 'The report uses a particular word - 'transitioned'. The fuel control switches transitioned, according to the report. This report suggests that a challenge-and-response dynamic exists between the two pilots, with one questioning the other, and a state of confusion between the pilots, potentially leading to a breakdown in Crew Resource Management (CRM),' Captain Dhalla said. 'If any changes were made due to a failure in this aircraft, they would have used these switches to regain power. If there was a problem with the locking mechanism of these switches, then the pilots were also helpless,' Captain Dhalla added further. Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) President, C.S. Randhawa, on Thursday (July 17, 2025), condemned a media report that claimed that the captain of the flight deliberately cut off fuel to the engines. Captain Randhawa emphasised that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's (AAIB) preliminary report makes no mention of the pilots turning off the switches controlling fuel flow to the engines. 'Nowhere in the report has it been mentioned that the fuel control switch was turned off due to the pilot's mistake. I condemn the article. They have not read the report properly, and will take action against them through FIP,' said Captain Randhawa. Furthermore, he urged people not to comment on the AAIB's preliminary report, as this might create undue fear among commuters about air travel. The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had a total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively. A preliminary report released last week by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before the June 12 crash and raised fresh questions over the position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches, the report said. The AI 171 crash of the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, killed 260 people, including 229 passengers, 12 crew members, and 19 people on the ground.
