Air India fuel switches moved with 'some form of human input'
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Al Jazeera
4 days ago
- Al Jazeera
What happened to the fuel-control switches on doomed Air India flight 171?
New details about last month's Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people, have emerged this week, shifting focus onto the actions of the senior pilot during the last moments before the plane crashed. According to a report published on Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal quoting sources close to United States officials' early assessment of evidence, the black box audio recording of the last conversation between the two pilots indicates that the captain might have turned off the switches controlling the flow of fuel to the plane's engines. Last week, a preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found that both engines had shut down within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude, before the plane crashed into a densely populated suburb of Ahmedabad. However, that report, which stated the fuel-control switches had moved to the 'cutoff' position, did not assign blame for the incident. Two groups of commercial pilots have rejected suggestions that human error may have caused the disaster. What happened to the Air India flight? At 1:38pm (08:08 GMT) on June 12, Air India Flight 171 took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad for London Gatwick Airport, carrying 230 passengers, 10 cabin crew and two pilots. About 40 seconds after taking off, both engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner lost power during the initial climb. The plane then crashed into the BJ Medical College Hostel in a populated suburb 1.85km (1.15 miles) from the runway. The aircraft broke apart on impact, causing a fire that destroyed parts of five buildings. All the passengers on the plane died except one – Vishwaskumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origin. Some 19 people on the ground were killed as well, and 67 were injured. What did the AAIB report say? The AAIB is investigating the crash, the deadliest aviation incident in a decade, along with Boeing and experts from the US and United Kingdom. A preliminary report from the investigators released on Saturday found the aircraft had been deemed airworthy, had up-to-date maintenance and carried no hazardous cargo. But the report noted that a 2018 US Federal Aviation Administration advisory warned of a potential flaw in the fuel-control switch system of some Boeing planes, including the Dreamliner. The report said Air India did not inspect the system and it was not mandatory for it to do so. During the crash, recovery systems activated, but only partial engine relight occurred, the report stated. Both engines shut down just after takeoff as fuel switches moved from the 'run' to 'cutoff' positions. The report cited a black box audio recording in which one pilot asked, 'Why did you cut off?' and the other denied doing so. The speakers were not identified. Despite taking emergency measures, only one engine partially restarted, and moments before impact, a 'Mayday' call was issued before communications were lost. Air traffic control received no response after the distress call but saw the aircraft crash outside the boundary of the airport. CCTV footage from the airport showed one of the flight recovery systems – known as the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) – deploying shortly after liftoff, followed by a rapid descent. Who were the pilots? Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, served as the pilot-in-command on the flight. A soft-spoken veteran who had logged more than 15,600 flight hours, 8,500 of them on the Boeing 787, Sabharwal was known for his reserved nature, meticulous habits and mentorship of junior pilots. He trained at India's premier aviation school, the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, and friends who spoke to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recalled him as deeply committed to his career as a pilot as well as caring for his ageing father, a former civil aviation official. First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, was the pilot flying the aircraft at the time of the crash while Sabharwal was the pilot monitoring. Kunder had accumulated more than 3,400 flying hours, including 1,128 hours on the Dreamliner. Flying was his childhood dream, inspired by his mother's 30-year career as an Air India flight attendant. At age 19, he trained in the US and earned a commercial pilot's licence before returning to India to join Air India in 2017. Described by family and friends in the WSJ as joyful, curious and tech-savvy, Kunder was said to be passionate about aviation and excited to be flying the 787. What has emerged this week? According to US officials who examined evidence from the crash and were quoted by the WSJ, the cockpit voice recording suggests it was Sabharwal who may have moved the fuel control switches to 'cutoff' after takeoff, an action that cut power to both engines. The switches were turned back on within seconds, but it was too late to regain full thrust. As the flying pilot, Kunder would have been occupied with the climb-out, making it unlikely he could have manipulated the switches, according to unnamed US pilots quoted by the WSJ. Sabharwal, as the monitoring pilot, would have had a freer hand, they said. What are the fuel-control switches? Located on a key cockpit panel just behind the throttle levers between the two pilot seats, these switches manage the flow of fuel to each of the aircraft's two engines. Pilots use these fuel cutoff switches to start or shut down the engines while on the ground. In flight, the pilots can manually shut down or restart an engine in the event of a failure. How do fuel-control switches work? The switches are designed for manual operation. They are spring-loaded to stay firmly in place and cannot be moved accidentally or with light pressure during flight operations. The switches have two settings: 'cutoff' and 'run'. The 'cutoff' mode stops fuel from reaching the engines while 'run' allows normal fuel flow. To change positions, a pilot must first pull the switch upwards before shifting it between 'run' and 'cutoff'. Could the crash have been caused by human error? Experts are cautious about this. US aviation analyst Mary Schiavo told the Financial Express in India that people should not draw premature conclusions, arguing that there is as yet no definitive evidence of pilot error. She highlighted a similar incident during which one of the engines suddenly shut down midflight on an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 during its final approach to Osaka, Japan, in 2019. Investigators later found that the aircraft's software had mistakenly interpreted the plane as being on the ground, triggering the thrust control malfunction accommodation system, which automatically moved the fuel switch from 'run' to 'cutoff' without any action from the pilots. Schiavo warned that a similar malfunction cannot yet be ruled out in the Air India crash and stressed the importance of releasing the full cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript to avoid misleading interpretations. 'There is nothing here to suggest pilot suicide or murder,' she said. 'The voices, words and sounds on CVRs must be carefully analysed.' India's Federation of Indian Pilots criticised the framing of the preliminary findings in the media this week. In a public statement, the federation noted that the report relies heavily on paraphrased CVR excerpts and lacks comprehensive data. 'Assigning blame before a transparent, data-driven investigation is both premature and irresponsible,' the statement read before adding that it undermines the professionalism of the crew and causes undue distress to their families. Campbell Wilson, chief executive of Air India, this week urged staff not to make premature conclusions about the causes of the crash, telling them this week that the investigation was 'far from over'.
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Mystery buildings in Rafah raise concerns
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Qatar Tribune
13-07-2025
- Qatar Tribune
How Air India flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad: Its fatal last moments
Moments before a fatal Air India crash on June 12, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner's fuel-control switches in the cockpit mysteriously moved from the 'run' to the 'cutoff' position, an early investigation into the disaster has revealed. Flipping to cutoff almost immediately cuts the engines. The investigation's report, issued by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) early on Saturday, found that both engines shut down within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude. The report does not conclude any reason for the switches moving or apportion blame for the crash of Air India's Flight 171, which had been bound for London's Gatwick Airport. Rather, the new details emerging from the report, including voice recordings from the cockpit, appear to have compounded the mystery about what caused the crash. This is what the report has found and what we know about the final minute before the plane crashed. What happened on June 12? At 13:38 [08:08 GMT] on the afternoon of June 12, the Dreamliner departed Ahmedabad for London Gatwick with 230 passengers, 10 cabin crew and 2 pilots on board. Less than 40 seconds later, the aircraft lost both engines during its initial climb. In the first such incident for a 787 Dreamliner, the plane crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel and adjoining structures in a densely populated suburb of the city, just under a nautical mile (equivalent to about 1.85km) from the runway. The aircraft broke apart on impact, igniting a fire that destroyed parts of five buildings. All but one of the people on board the plane were killed. The sole survivor was Vishwaskumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origin. Some 19 people on the ground were also killed and 67 were injured. What has the investigation revealed? The AAIB, an office under India's Ministry of Civil Aviation, is leading the probe into the world's deadliest aviation accident in a decade. The probe is also joined by experts from Boeing and participants from the United States and United Kingdom. According to the preliminary report, the aircraft was deemed airworthy, with its Airworthiness Review Certificate valid until May 2026. Routine maintenance had been carried out, and no dangerous goods were on board. However, investigators noted a previous US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advisory from December 2018 regarding a potential flaw in the aircraft's fuel-control switch system – highlighting the potential disengagement of the locking feature. The report on the Air India crash noted that this advisory had been prompted by reports from operators of Boeing 737 aircraft, highlighting that fuel-control switches had been found to have been installed with their locking mechanisms disengaged. Air India told the investigators that no inspection had been made in response to this SAIB, since compliance was not mandatory. The report noted that the throttle control module on the aircraft had been replaced in 2019 and again in 2023. However, these replacements were not related to the fuel-control switch, and no defects concerning the switch have been reported since 2023, the report highlighted. Key systems such as the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) and Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) were engaged and attempted automatic recovery, but only partial engine relight was achieved before the aircraft crashed. What does the audio recording from the cockpit reveal? Shortly after takeoff, both engines shut down almost simultaneously, as the fuel control switches inexplicably moved from 'run' to 'cutoff'. Cockpit voice recordings captured one pilot questioning the other, 'Why did you cut off?' The other pilot replied that he had not done so. The pilots quickly attempted to recover control: the fuel switches were returned to 'run'; the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) was deployed; and the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) auto-started. According to the report, Engine 1 began relighting, but Engine 2 failed to regain thrust. Just seconds before impact, a panicked 'MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY' call was transmitted. What did air traffic control observe? The Air Traffic Control Officer at Ahmedabad received no response at all following the Mayday call sign but observed the aircraft crashing outside the airport boundary. CCTV footage from the airport showed the aircraft's Ram Air Turbine (RAT) being deployed during the initial climb immediately after lift-off. The aircraft then started to lose altitude before crossing the airport perimeter wall. The report has not determined whether the fuel-switch shutdown was mechanical or accidental. The investigators have also not 'speaker-stamped' the voice recording – identified who is speaking – from the cockpit yet. Who were the pilots? Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the 56-year-old pilot-in-command (PIC), had extensive experience with 15,638 total flying hours, including 8,596 hours on the Boeing 787, of which 8,260 hours were as PIC. The co-pilot, or first officer, was Clive Kunder. The 32-year-old had accumulated 3,403 flying hours, including 1,128 hours on the B787, all as co-pilot. His endorsements included C172 and PA-34 as PIC and A320 and B787 as co-pilot. On the day of the accident, Kunder was the pilot flying the Dreamliner while Sabharwal acted as the pilot monitoring, responsible for supporting the flight through communication with air traffic control and system monitoring. This is a second-by-second timeline of Flight 171's last moments: 08:07:33 [GMT]: Cleared for takeoff from Ahmedabad's runway 23. 08:07:37: Aircraft begins takeoff roll. 08:08:33: Aircraft reaches V1 (153 knots). 08:08:35: Aircraft achieves Vr (155 knots) for rotation. 08:08:39: Lift-off registered. 08:08:42: Aircraft peaks at its maximum recorded speed of 180 knots; both engine-fuel switches abruptly transition to 'cutoff'. 08:08:47: Engines lose power; RAT deploys to provide emergency hydraulics. 08:08:52: Engine 1 fuel switch is returned to 'run'. 08:08:54: APU inlet door begins to open (auto-start initiates). 08:08:56: Engine 2 fuel switch also moved to 'run'. 08:09:05: Pilot transmits 'MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY'. 08:09:11: Final data recorded; aircraft hits the ground. According to Saturday's report, at this stage of the investigation, there is no need for airlines or engine makers to take any action regarding the Boeing 787-8 planes or GE GEnx-1B engines. Further investigation is under way. (Source: Al Jazeera)
