India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau confirmed that both fuel control switches were moved to “cut off” just seconds after take-off, shutting down the engines and causing the Boeing 787 to lose thrust.
About 10 seconds later, the fuel flow was restored to the engines and the automatic restart sequence was initiated, but there was not enough time to prevent the plane from crashing.
The report does not explain how or why the switches were moved, although in the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he hit the cutoff switch.
“The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report stated.
Air India Flight 171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick plummeted into a medical hostel on June 12, killing 260 people, including children and entire families. Only one man survived the crash.
The commanding pilot was 56-year-old Sumeet Sabharwal, who had 15,638 hours of flying experience and was also an Air India instructor. His co-pilot was 32-year-old Clive Kunder, who had 3,403 hours of experience.
Aviation experts have commented that you can’t flip the switches by accident as they are designed with a locking mechanism that prevents “inadvertent movement”.
India’s aviation minister has urged people not to jump to conclusions, as a U.S. aviation watchdog says the investigation will “follow the facts”.
A final report is due to be released next year.
