Primilinary probe on Air India crash yields shocking revelations

International

WAS there a human error in the deadly Air India jet crash?

Investigators are looking into this possibility after it was found out that fuel supply to engines was cut off moments before the jet crashed in Western India last June 12.

Based on the recovered cockpit voice recordings, the two pilots talked about fuel supply to engines being cut off shortly after the jet took off.

In the recordings, one of the pilots was heard saying “why did you cut off?” to which the other pilot replied he "did not do so."

Piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kundar, the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed less than a minute after taking off on 12 June from Ahmedabad airport in western India, killing 260 people, most of them passengers.

One British national survived the crash.

India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is leading the investigation, which is expected to be finished in 12 months.

Data from the flight recorder showed that both of the plane's fuel control switches moved from the run to the cutoff position in the space of a second, shortly after takeoff.

Usually, the switches are shifted to cut off to turn off the engines after landing, or during emergency situations such as an engine fire - rather than during takeoff.

The AAIB reported that the cutoff caused both engines to lose thrust.

The report added that one engine was able to regain thrust - but could not reverse the plane's deceleration, causing it to plunge into a building used as doctors' accommodation.

The report added bith pilots had an adequate rest period before the flight.

It was previously speculated that birds could have caused the crash, but the report said that at the time of the crash, there was no significant bird activity in the vicinity of the plane's flight path.