- The Boeing 787 crash killed 260 people last month.
- The pilots experienced, unclear how fuel switches moved.
- The report indicates that a pilot asked the other why he had cut the fuel.
A preliminary report represented a confusion in the cockpit shortly before an India air airliner was crushed, killing 260 people last month, after the engine cut -off switches of the airplane was almost simultaneously turned, samping the fuel engines.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner to London from the Indian city of Ahmedabad immediately started to lose the thrust and to flow, according to the report on the deadliest aviation accident in the world in a decade published on Saturday by Indian accident investigators.
The report of the office of the investigation into the accidents of the India plane (AAIB) on the accident of June 12 shortly after takeoff raises new questions on the position of critical switches to cut the engine, while suggesting that Boeing and the manufacturer of engines GE had no obvious responsibility for the accident.
The accident is a challenge for the ambitious campaign of the Tata group to restore the reputation of Air India and reorganize its fleet, after having withdrawn the government’s carrier in 2022.
Almost immediately after the plane has taken off from the ground, video surveillance images show a source of emergency energy called a RAM turbine unfolds, indicating a loss of power of the motors.
During the last moment of the flight, a pilot was heard on the vocal recorder of the cockpit asking the other why he cut the fuel. “The other pilot replied that he did not do it,” said the report.
He did not identify which remarks were made by the captain of the flight and who by the first officer, nor which pilot transmitted “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” just before the accident.
The Air Air India plane pilot was Sameet Sabharwal, 56, who had total flight experience of 15,638 hours and, according to the Indian government, was also an Air India instructor. His co -pilot was Clive Kunder, 32, who had 3,403 hours of total experience.
The fuel switches had almost switched to the cut in the cut off just after takeoff. The preliminary report did not say how the switches could have turned into a cut -off position during the flight.
Experts said that a pilot would not be able to accidentally move fuel switches.
“If they were moved because of a pilot, why?” asked for an expert in aeronautical security Anthony Brickhouse.
The switches overthrew a second apart, according to the report, almost the time it would take to move one and then the other, according to the American aviation expert John Nance. He added that a pilot would never normally extend the flight switches, especially since the plane begins to climb.
The reversal to the cut almost immediately cuts the engines. It is most often used to turn off the engines once an airplane has arrived at its airport door and in certain emergencies, such as engine fire. The report does not indicate that there was an emergency requiring an engine cut.
On the accident site, the two fuel switches were found in the race position, and there had been indications that the two engines caught up before the low -altitude accident, said that the report, which was published around 1:30 am on Saturday (2000 GMT on Friday).
Air India recognized the report in a press release. The carrier said he was co -opted with the Indian authorities but refused comments.
The US National Transportation Safety Board thanked Indian officials for their cooperation in a press release and noted that there were no recommended measures in the report for operators of Boeing 787 Jets or GE engines.
The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States said that its priority was to follow the facts in which they led, and he undertook to quickly treat the risks identified throughout the process.
Boeing said he continued to support the survey and his client, Air India. Ge Aerospace did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Crash probe
The AAIB, an office of the Civil Aviation Ministry of India, conducts the investigation into the accident, which killed every 242 people on board except on board and 19 others on the ground.
Most air accidents are caused by multiple factors, with a preliminary report due 30 days after the accident in accordance with international rules and an expected final report within one year.
The black boxes of the plane, the combined cockpit vocal recorders and the flight data recorders, were recovered in the days following the accident and downloaded later in India.
Black boxes provide crucial data such as altitude, speed and final pilot conversations, which help reduce the possible causes of the accident.
Air India has been under meticulous examination since the accident.
The European Aviation Safety Agency of the Union said that it was planning to investigate its low -budget airline, Air India Express, after Reuters announced that the carrier had not followed a directive to modify the engine parts of an Airbus A320 quickly and falsified the files to show compliance.
The India Aviation Dog has also warned Air India for having violated the rules for having stolen three Airbus planes with delay controls on escape slides and, in June, warns it of “serious violations” of pilot rights schedules.
India goes on an aviation boom to support wider development objectives, New Delhi saying that it wants India to be a global aviation center creating employment in the direction of Dubai, which currently manages a large part of the country’s international traffic.
