Deliberate human intervention is the reason for the accident: Capt Mohan Ranganathan
"The preliminary report by the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB), an independent investigative unit. constituted by the Civil Aviation Ministry, reveal a conversation between the cockpit crew with one of them expressing shock over the fuel supply being cut-off to the engines and questioning the other.
The report states, "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," The co-pilot Clive Kunder was flying the plane during take-off and he had 1000-plus hours of flying. The highly experienced First Officer Captain Sumit Sabharwal, with more than 8,000 hours of flying was in the cockpit with him.
Capt Ranganathan states, "The fuel switch does not change automatically. It needs to be moved physically from one slot to another slot and can only be done as a deliberate action."
This switch to stop fuel supply is provided as an emergency measure so that pilots can salvage the situation in case of any major fire related incidents, he explained.
"This is a case of deliberate human intervention. It was not accidental," he stressed.
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