In a tragic accident involving an Air India flight, which crashed soon after takeoff and resulted in 260 casualties, it was discovered that the fuel control switches to the aircraft’s engines were moved from “run” to “cutoff” just before the crash, according to an initial investigation report.
The report, released by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, does not assign responsibility or finalize causes for the June 12 incident. However, it notes a conversation where one pilot questioned the other about why the fuel was cut off, to which the second pilot replied that he had not done so.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was on route from Ahmedabad, located in western India, to London when it crashed, leading to the death of all but one of the 242 passengers and affecting 19 individuals on the ground.
The 15-page document from the investigation bureau records that after the aircraft reached its highest speed, the fuel cutoff switches for both Engine 1 and Engine 2 were shifted from RUN to CUTOFF in quick succession, with just a one-second interval.
“In the cockpit voice recording, a pilot can be heard questioning why the cutoff was engaged, with the other pilot replying he did not do it,” the report states.
The aircraft quickly began to lose altitude.
The switches then returned to the RUN position and the engines appeared to be gathering power, but “one of the pilots transmitted ‘MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY'”, the report said.
Air traffic controllers asked the pilots what was wrong, but then saw the plane crashing and called emergency personnel to the scene.
The report did not identify which remarks were made by the flight’s captain and which by the first officer, nor which pilot transmitted the Mayday signal.
At the crash scene, both fuel switches were found in the run position, and the report mentions signals of the engines attempting to restart before the aircraft crashed at a low altitude.
Both pilots were experienced jet pilots with about 19,000 total flying hours between them, including more than 9,000 on the 787.
The preliminary report also does not say how the switch could have flipped to the cutoff position on flight.
US aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said a key question is why were the switches moved in a way that is inconsistent with normal operations.
“Did they move on their own or did they move because of the pilots?” he asked. “And if they were moved because of a pilot, why?”
US aviation safety expert John Cox said a pilot would not be able to accidentally move the fuel switches that feed the engines. “You can’t bump them and they move,” he said.
Switching to cutoff effectively shuts down the engines and is typically done when the aircraft reaches its gate or during specific emergencies, like a fire in the engine. The report doesn’t suggest that there was an emergency necessitating an engine shutdown.
The bureau said there were “no recommended actions to B787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers”, suggesting no technical issues with the engines (GE) or the aircraft (Boeing).
The bureau said the investigation was ongoing, and that additional evidence and information has been “sought from the stakeholders”.
The plane was carrying 230 passengers — 169 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian — along with 12 crew members.
Dozens of people on the ground were injured.
One passenger miraculously survived, a British citizen who was seen walking out of the wreckage of the crash, and who has since been discharged from hospital.
