CNN
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The official report on the world’s most fatal aviation accident in a decade answered one important question, but others raised it.
Air India Flight AI171 lost momentum last month and barely left the runway as it crashed in a densely populated area of India’s western city of Ahmedabad.
Currently, a preliminary report by the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) revealed that fuel supply to both engines has been reduced in critical minutes as the aircraft is rising.
The plane’s “black box”, the plane’s flight data recorder, showed that the aircraft reached an airspeed of 180 knots when the fuel switches on both engines “were shifted from run to cutoff position 1”. The switches flipped within one second of each other, stopping the fuel flow.
In the audio recording from the black box mentioned in the report, one of the pilots hears asking the other person why they turned the switch over. The other pilots replied that he didn’t. The report does not specify who is a pilot or who is the co-pilot of the dialogue.
A few seconds later, the Boeing 787’s Dreamliner switch was flipped over in the other way to revert the fuel supply. Both engines could be revived, and one began to begin “progressing to recovery,” the report says, but it was too late to stop the plane’s courageous descent.
The report reveals the basic reasons why the jet crashed, but many are not explained.
Photo: crash of passenger plane in India
The findings do not clarify how the fuel switch flipped to the cutoff position during flight, whether intentional or accidental, whether the technical failure is liable or not.
In Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, the fuel switch is between the two pilot seats just behind the plane’s throttle lever. They are protected on the sides by metal bars.
The switch is purposefully designed, as it cannot be knocked by mistake, and therefore requires physical lifting of the switch handle to a physical stop (catch).
Jeffrey Dell, an aviation safety expert who conducted numerous aircraft accident investigations, finds it difficult to see how both switches were incorrectly flipped.
“It’s at least two action processes for each,” he told CNN. “You have to point the switch towards you and then push it down. That’s not something you can carelessly do.”
According to Dell, it would be “strange” for a pilot to deliberately cut fuel to both engines immediately after takeoff.
“There’s no scenario on Earth to do that right after a lift-off,” he said.
Dell pointed out, pointing to the fact that both engine switches were turned over within a second of each other. “That’s the kind of thing you do when parking the plane at the end of the flight… you plug into the terminal and close the engine.”
One possibility that the report will raise is related to a 2018 bulletin report published by the Federal Aviation Administration. However, considering this is not considered a dangerous condition, Air India did not conduct inspections.
Dell said the aircraft’s flight data recorder should help explain how the fuel switch was flipped in each case. However, India’s AAIB has not released a full transcript of the conversation between the two pilots. Without that, Dell says it’s hard to understand what happened.
Former pilot Asan Khalid also believes the findings in the report raised questions about the location of the important engine fuel switch.
Speaking to Reuters, Khalid warned against locking the pilot’s liability. “The AAIB report to me is crucial just to say that the accident occurred because both engines lost power.”
He added: “The pilots were aware that the aircraft’s engines had lost power and they were aware that the pilot had not taken action to cause this.”
A full report has not been scheduled for months, and India’s civil aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, said, “Let’s not jump to conclusions at this stage.”
Air IndiaJet took off from Sardar Valabhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, western India on 12th June and headed for London Gatwick.
Air India said there were 242 passengers and crew members on board. This included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. Everyone on board was killed except for one passenger.
19 people on the ground were killed when the plane collided with a hostel at BJ Medical College and a hospital.
Air India has acknowledged its receipt of the report and says it will continue to work with authorities in the investigation.
