Air India crash: ‘Focus on jet's fuel switches', ahead of preliminary report
crash of an Air India jetliner
in June is expected to be released by Friday, sources said, with one adding the investigation had narrowed its focus to the movement of the plane's fuel control switches.
The London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which started losing height after reaching an altitude of 650ft, crashed moments after take-off from Ahmedabad, India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and others on the ground.
The investigation into the Air India crash is focusing on the movement of the engine fuel control switches following an analysis of the 787's flight and voice data recorders, along with a simulation by Boeing of the aircraft's final moments, one of the sources said.
The investigation has not raised any immediate concerns over mechanical failure, the source said, and there has been no bulletin to airlines recommending changes to 787 operations.
Boeing declined to comment.
Aviation industry publication the Air Current first reported the focus on the fuel switches that help power the plane's two engines.
It was not clear what specific actions involving the fuel switches are being looked at by investigators.
Sources told the Air Current that the available information on the black boxes could not rule in or out improper, inadvertent or intentional actions that preceded or followed the apparent loss of thrust before the aircraft crashed.
US 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.
Mr Cox added that if a switch was shut off, the effect would be almost immediate, cutting off engine power.
Most air crashes are caused by multiple factors. The investigation is focusing at least partly on engine thrust, Reuters reported last month.
While the report from Indian investigators could be made public on Friday, the three sources warned plans could change and there was no clarity on how much information would be available in the document, which comes about 30 days after the June 12th tragedy.
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which is leading the investigation under international rules, did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
The investigation has been dogged by questions over lack of information, after investigators took about two weeks to download flight recorder data after the crash. The Indian government held only one press conference on the incident, and no questions were taken.
However, India reversed course on an earlier decision reported by Reuters to prevent a UN aviation investigator from joining the inquiry, two senior sources said.
A specialist from the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization was granted observer status, following an unusual request by the agency to offer its support.
The crash is challenging the Tata Group's ambitious campaign to restore Air India's reputation and revamp its fleet, after taking the carrier over from the government in 2022.
A panel of Indian lawmakers will review safety in the country's civil aviation sector and has invited several industry and government officials to answer questions on Wednesday, with topics set to include the recent plane crash. – Reuters
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025
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Cork native digging own grave in prisoner of war camp as Nagasaki atomic bomb detonated: Witness to rain of ruin
Eighty years ago today, the second – and hopefully last – atomic bomb used in warfare was dropped. The city of Nagasaki was incinerated in a millisecond, as Hiroshima had been three days previously. Aidan MacCarthy, a doctor from Cork, who had been a prisoner of the Japanese since the fall of Singapore in 1942, anticipated that day would be his last. He was based in a prison camp near the Mitsubishi factory in Nagasaki, digging his own grave, when the second bomb was dropped. Ironically, it may have saved his life. Just days beforehand, the Japanese had made the prisoners of war (POWs) dig their graves. READ MORE 'We dug on incredulously, our feelings numbed. To dig one's own grave is an extraordinary sensation. A sense of deja vu seems almost to overtake one,' he wrote. 'I had a fantasy glimpse of my own shot-up corpse lying in the watery mud.' When the bomb detonated, he escaped the camp and later helped those affected by it. 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The Journal
27-07-2025
- The Journal
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The Irish Sun
27-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
Air India crash victim's mum horrified as authorities send wrong body back to the UK in a casket
A MUM whose son died in the Air India plane crash has been left horrified after authorities sent the wrong body back to the UK. Amanda Donaghey, 66, was left heartbroken and appalled after DNA evidence proved Advertisement 6 DNA evidence proved Air India crash passenger Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek's casket actually belonged to another victim Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 6 Fiongal and husband Jamie filmed themselves waiting to board the doomed plane Credit: Instagram 6 All but one passenger died when the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft crashed in Ahmedabad, India Credit: Reuters Fiongal, 39, had been to India celebrating his wedding anniversary with husband, Jamie, 45. The pair were all set to fly home to Britain on the doomed Flight AI171 when Moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, the pilots lost altitude as the plane came Footage captured the moment it smashed into a medical college hostel. Advertisement read more in Air India crash A total of 241 passengers and crew plus 19 people on the ground were all killed in the tragedy - including 52 Brits like Fiongal and Jamie. Amanda initially believed the two men had caught a flight home two days earlier until she received an emotional phone call from the dad of Fiongal. A brave Amanda then flew out to India shortly after being told both men were on the plane when it crashed. She went to look for her son or, in the worse case scenario, bring his remains home. Advertisement Most read in The Sun Exclusive Breaking She told "I remember all these burnt trees. The trees were scorched black. But there were still birds and squirrels in those trees, which I found quite profound. How pilots cutting engines sparked TWO plane disasters after South Korea & India crashes as calls for cockpit CCTV grow "It was like a bomb site. You would think it was from a war scene, but there were still these small birds twittering." 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In the chilling final clip filmed at Ahmedabad airport, Fiongal and Jamie, dressed in floral shirts and visibly happy, reflect on their trip. Fiongal says: "We are at the airport just boarding. Goodbye India. Ten-hour flight back to Jamie responds: "I don't know," prompting Fiongal's laughter and a teasing, "Thanks for your contribution." Fiongal jokes that his main lesson was "don't lose your patience with your partner," to which Jamie smiles and replies, "You snapped at me at the airport for having chai." Passengers mill in the background as Fiongal adds: "I'm going back to Britain happily, happily calm." Earlier social media posts from the couple showed their experiences in Ahmedabad, including a seven-hour car journey to a stunning hotel. In one clip, Fiongal lies on a large bed beside a giant swing, describing the hotel as "beautiful" and saying he felt "very, very happy." Their time in India was captured in a series of posts showing henna tattoos, shopping for fabrics and gifts, and riding in a tuk-tuk through busy streets. On their final night, Fiongal reflected: "So, it's our last night in India and we've had a magical experience. Some mind-blowing things have happened. "We are going to put all this together and create a vlog. It's my first ever vlog about the whole trip and we want to share it." Jamie added: "We have been on quite a journey and then spending our last night here in this beautiful hotel, it's really been a great way to round off the trip." They did not belong to Fiongal. "It was heartbreaking," Amanda said. Advertisement "We don't know what poor person is in that casket. This is an appalling thing to have happened." Amanda's experience is tragically just one of many parents struggling to find closure after the crash due to a mix up of many caskets. NHS microbiologist Shobhana Patel, 71, and her husband Ashok, 74, both The couple, from Orpington, Kent , were repatriated in different coffins but DNA tests in Britain Advertisement One And in another It is thought that only Indian authorities carried out DNA tests on victims with no input from any international agency. India's Ministry of External Affairs said: 'All remains were handled with professionalism.' Advertisement Brit families previously slammed the chaotic ground operation following the horror smash on June 12. One relative reportedly blasted the "lack of transparency and oversight in the identification and handling of remains". 6 Brit families previously slammed the chaotic ground operation following the horror smash on June 12 Credit: AFP 6 Vishwash Ramesh was the sole survivor of the Air India crash Credit: Dan Charity Advertisement 6
