The preliminary report into the deadly Air India crash that killed 260 people last month suggests that cockpit crew error is the most likely cause.
Investigators’ early assessments indicate no apparent fault with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner itself or its engines.
The report by Indian aviation accident specialists released on Saturday said analysis showed the plane engines’ fuel switches shifting from run to cutoff within seconds of each other, starving the engines of fuel.
In aviation, the switches are used to start or shut down the engines and are typically left on during flight.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner immediately began to lose thrust and sink down, according to the report.
One pilot can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel. ‘The other pilot responded that he did not do so,’ the report said.
It did not identify which remarks were made by the flight’s captain and which by the first officer, nor which pilot transmitted ‘Mayday, Mayday, Mayday’ just before the crash.
The preliminary report also does not say how the switch could have flipped to the cutoff position on the June 12 London-bound flight from the Indian city of Ahmedabad.
Investigators are focusing on the actions of the cockpit crew, with early assessments indicating no apparent fault with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Air India has said that the flight’s captain, Sumeet Sabharwal had over 10,000 hours experience of flying wide-body or larger aircrafts
Co-pilot Clive Kunder also had over 3,400 hours of flying experience, according to Air India
U.S. aviation safety expert John Cox said a pilot would not be able to accidentally move the fuel switches that feed the engines.
‘You can’t bump them and they move,’ he said.
Flipping to cutoff almost immediately cuts the engines. It is most often used to turn engines off once a plane has arrived at its airport gate and in certain emergency situations, such as an engine fire. The report does not indicate there was any emergency requiring an engine cutoff.
The new findings appear to tally with theories reportedly put forward on the US side of the investigation, which also noted that the switches that control fuel flow to the aircraft’s twin engines were turned off shortly after takeoff, causing the jet to lose thrust.
It remains unclear why they were turned off, and investigators have been left wondering whether it was deliberate, accidental or corrected too late.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, one potential sign that the switches were off was the deployment of the plane’s emergency power system, a ram air turbine or RAT.
If the preliminary findings hold, that would exonerate the Dreamliner’s manufacturer Boeing and engine developer GE Aerospace.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said: ‘At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to Boeing 787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers.’
Vishwashkumar Ramesh was the only passenger who survived the tragedy
The aircraft crashed into a student hostel near the airport shortly after taking off
The agency, an office under India’s civil aviation ministry, is leading the probe into the world’s deadliest aviation accident in a decade.
Although a preliminary report has been submitted to Indian authorities, it has been reported that there is no obligation to release it to the public.
The tragedy last month claimed the lives of 169 Indian passengers on board, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian, as well as 12 crew members and left only one survivor – British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40.
At least 38 people were also killed on the ground as the doomed Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner came down in a residential area moments after takeoff.
Air India, the nation’s oldest airline, has been trying to revitalise its operations after several years under government control.
The airline company says Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who was flying the plane, had more than 10,000 hours of experience on wide-body jets, while co-pilot Clive Kunder had logged over 3,400 hours.
The crash marked the first fatal incident involving a Dreamliner and was a major setback for Boeing, which is facing ongoing scrutiny over its aircraft safety standards.
The US National Transportation Safety Board is assisting with the Indian-led investigation, while the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and GE Aerospace are providing technical support.
There has been a reported tension between the Indian and US investigators
Ajaykumar Ramesh (left) who died in the plane crash and his brother Viswash Kumar Ramesh (right), who miraculously survived
Astonishing footage showed Vishwar walking away from the scene with some visible injuries to his face
Reports indicate that there have been tensions building between American and Indian officials.
One of the biggest points of contention is the delay in accessing and analysing the plane’s black boxes.
The Americans are not pleased with the slow pace at which data is being extracted from the cockpit voice and data recorders.
The US team at one point even considered pulling out of the probe before eventually deciding to carry on. The US investigators have since returned home.
The Dreamliner, which was first delivered to Air India in 2012, has been used for many international routes.
Although officials have initially focused on the fuel control switches, they have cautioned that nothing has been ruled out yet.
Harrowing footage of the crash shows how the plane, in the air, went down in a busy area and also killing 19 people on the ground in Ahmedabad on June 12.
Sole survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh had been in the country on a business trip with his brother Ajaykumar, 35, before they boarded the doomed flight travelling from Ahmedabad to Gatwick on Thursday.
Raxa Modha (left) was on the doomed flight so tragically died in the crash on Thursday
Akeel Nanawaba (left), 36, his wife Hannaa (right), 30, and their four-year-old daughter Sarah were flying home from a five-day family celebration when the Air India Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off. They also died in the tragedy
Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, 45, (right) and husband Fiongal, 39, lived in London, ran a wellness and healthy lifestyle company called the Wellness Foundry, and had been in India on holiday. They also died in the ill-fated flight
In what has been described as a miracle, Viswash – seated in 11A by the exit – survived, but his sibling who was sat on the other side of the aisle in seat 11J perished in the fireball explosion.
Before the discovery of the British survivor, authorities said that they believed no one had escaped the flight alive.
There were 53 British nationals on board as well as 159 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese citizens and a Canadian.
Eleven of those on board were children, including two newborns.
The Boeing jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat at around 1.40pm (0810 GMT), officials said.
Ahmedabad, the main city of India’s Gujarat state, is home to around eight million people, and the busy airport is surrounded by densely packed residential areas.
Preliminary flight tracking data from flightradar24 reveals the plane reached an altitude of just 625ft after takeoff – a height far below standard for a commercial aircraft several minutes into departure.
According to data logs recorded at 30-second intervals showed the plane remained on the ground or was taxiing slowly for over four minutes after it first registered on public trackers.
The plane took off and reached 625ft, but no further gains in altitude were recorded before the crash.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane sent a mayday call moments before the tragedy unfolded.
