The charred remains of the ill fated aircraft
By Gulshan Parveen
A chilling revelation in the Air India plane crash investigation has raised an alarming question regarding the deadly attack.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIM) released the investigation report on Saturday (July 12) regarding the crash in Ahmedabad, saying that the fuel to both engines of the aircraft was cut off within seconds of the takeoff.
The conversation recorded in the cockpit voice recording revealed that one of the pilots noticed it and asked the co-pilot, “Why did you cut off?”
260 people were killed in the AI 171 crash, including the medical students of the college where the plane crashed.
The preliminary report, released a month after the crash, revealed that the engines’ fuel switches shifted from ‘RUN’ to ‘CUTOFF’ within seconds of each other after take-off.
The CUTOFF angles are the most mysterious puzzle that remains unsolved.
If pilots did not cut off the fuel, then how did the fuel supply cut off?
“When fuel control switches are moved from CUTOFF to RUN while the aircraft is in flight, each engine’s full authority dual engine control (FADEC) automatically manages a relight and thrust recovery sequence of ignition and fuel introduction,” the report said.
But the aircraft did not do that as well.
The data of the aircraft showed that an automatic relight was attempted.
Engine 1 of the plane briefly responded while Engine 2 did not.
This ultimately led to the aircraft crash.
Pilots are not responsible, then who is?
The Boeing 787 aircraft was controlled by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 flying hours.
The report said both pilots were medically fit and rested, with adequate experience.
The report said that there was no immediate evidence of sabotage, but pointed to a known Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advisory on a possible fuel switch flaw.
The investigation report also revealed that Boeing had issued an optional advisory on the fuel control switch locking mechanism, but Air India had not carried out the recommended checks.
