Damning evidence in Air India investigation
Air India flight 'AI 171' was bound for Gatwick in London and had taken off from Ahmadabad airport on June 12th, but crashed seconds after takeoff, in the worst aviation disaster India has ever seen.
The preliminary report, due to be published later today, shows the fuel switch to the engines was flipped to 'OFF' seconds after takeoff. The Air India flight AI171 that crashed in Ahmedabad. Pic: EyePress News/REX/Shutterstock
This switch is only ever used when an aircraft has come to a complete stop and arrived at its gate, or in the case of a bird strike where an engine would need to be switched off mid flight.
The preliminary report found that the fuel switch in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was flipped to 'OFF' some three seconds into the flight, immediately STARVING the engines of fuel.
The enormous aircraft instantly lost power, began to lose height and literally fell from the sky killing all but one person on board, as well as a number of people on the ground in Ahmadabad medical college. Firefighters work at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad. Pic: Sam Panthaky/AFP via Getty Images
The black box flight recordings have revealed one of the pilots can be heard asking the other WHY he cut off the fuel, while the other pilot responded that he had not done so.
However it's not yet clear which remarks were made by the Captain and which by the First Officer, or who it was who called 'Mayday Mayday Mayday' seconds before the fatal crash.
The preliminary findings do NOT make clear just HOW the fuel pump switch could have flipped to the 'OFF' position, but aviation experts say these switches cannot just 'move' accidentally, by someone bumping off them, or accidentally touching them. Smoke rises after a plane crash shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in India's western state of Gujarat. Pic: Nandan Dave/Anadolu via Getty Images
At this point in the investigation, there are NO recommended actions to Boeing or the engine manufacturers according to the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, the organisation heading up the probe into the disaster.
The plane's two black boxes, both combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders, were recovered in the days following the crash, but aviation experts say that most air crashes are caused by 'multiple factors'. India's prime minister Narendra Modi (left) meeting with Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, sole survivor of the Air India flight 171 crash, at a hospital in Ahmedabad. Pic: Narendra Modi Youtube Channel/AFP via Getty Images
India's aviation experts have also given Air India a warning for breaching other rules by flying three Airbus aircraft that were overdue safety checks on the escape slides, and there were also worries about 'serious violations' in pilot duty timings.
One man survived the deadly Air India crash and walked from the wreckage with minor injuries. Flames can be seen billowing behind Vishwash Kumar Ramesh as he walks from the rubble of the medical college, destroyed when the giant Airbus A380 Dreamliner plunged into the building, killing 260 passengers and crew on board and 29 people on the ground.
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Irish Daily Mirror
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