ONE of the pilots operating the doomed Air India flight asked why fuel was cut off just seconds after takeoff, a preliminary report has found.
The initial findings from the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s Black Box suggest that the pilots might have committed an error during the flight heading to London.
All but one of the 242 passengers and crew lost their lives when the flight crashed into a medical hostel mere moments after takeoff, with Vishwash Ramesh, 40, being the sole survivor.
Another 19 people were killed on the ground in Ahmedabad.
An initial 15-page report on the crash, issued by Indian authorities last night, shows that switches for the engines’ fuel supplies were shifted from the “RUN” position to “CUTOFF”.
“The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off,” the report said.
This could have triggered a loss of thrust, which resulted in the jet ploughing into a medical college.
Analysis of the cockpit voice recording revealed that one of the pilots asked: “Why did you cut off?”
To which the other pilot replied: “I didn’t.”
Though the report does not identify which comments were made by the flight’s captain and which were made by the first officer.
Another sign that the switches were turned off was the deployment of the plane’s emergency power system, a ram air turbine or RAT, which was pictured hanging down from the flight during its last moments.
Fuel switches are typically flipped to “CUTOFF” position after a flight safely touches down and reaches the airport gate.
Or it is done in case of a certain emergency situation, such as the event of an engine fire.
But the inconclusive report, which came after 30 days of the crash, does not indicate that the flight encountered any such emergency situation.
It is almost impossible to turn the switches off accidentally – they must be pulled up and locked before flipping – a safety design feature that was introduced decades ago.
Protective guards are further installed to minimise the risks – raising further questions as to why the fuel switches in the Air India flight were turned off.
Sources say the black box analysis has so far been unable to rule out “improper, inadvertent or intentional” action that caused them to be flipped.
Interestingly, the report points out that the US Federal Aviation Administration in 2018 issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) – highlighting that a few Boeing 737 fuel control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged.
But it was not deemed unsafe, and no Airworthiness Directive (AD) – a legally enforceable regulation to correct unsafe conditions in a product – was issued.
It is worth noting that the same switch design is used in Boeing 787-8 aircraft, including Air India‘s VT-ANB Dreamliner in question.
The report also found that pilots were able to restart one of the engines, but failed to stop the plane from decelerating.
No significant bird activity was observed in the vicinity of the plane’s flight path, the report added.
The initial investigation was led by a panel including the Indian authorities and experts from Boeing US and the UK.
Pilot Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kunder had more than 14,000 hours of flying experience between them – including some 9,000 hours on the 787.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 242 passengers on board – including 53 Brits – smashed into a doctors’ hostel in Ahmedabad in the west of India.
The plane was headed to London Gatwick with 232 passengers and 10 crew on board when it crashed just seconds after take-off.
The Dreamliner lost contact just seconds after take-off, according to flight tracking website Flightradar.
A final alert was last logged less than a minute after it started the journey from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
Seconds before the crash, the Boeing was filmed flying low over the Meghani Nagar residential area with the pilots appearing to be in a desperate bid to keep the plane in the air.
Moments later, it was seen disappearing behind buildings before a huge blast was seen in the distance.
Brit passenger Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was the sole survivor of the fatal crash.
He cheated death after being flung from seat 11A on the flaming Air India jet – escaping with minor injuries and filmed walking away after the wreck.
Incredible footage showed him walking away from the wreckage almost unscathed.
Flanked by the locals, he can be seen making his way towards an ambulance with blood caking his face.
Speaking in Hindi, he says: “I just got out of the plane, it exploded.”
