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India Today
23-07-2025
- India Today
Malfunction led to fuel switch shift? Final crash probe report in 6 months
The final report on the Air India crash in Ahmedabad is likely to be released within six to eight months, with the major line of inquiry being the transition of the fuel control switches, sources the preliminary report out, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) probe is now focusing on the analysis of data retrieved from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) - together known as the black box - and evidence from the wreckage preliminary report of the crash, which claimed 260 lives, revealed that three seconds after the AI 171 flight took off from Ahmedabad, fuel supply to both engines got cut off. The report, however, does not mention if the switches were moved by either of the pilots."Through the preliminary report, we knew the fuel switches transitioned. But what caused that transition? Was there a problem with some other components which could have led to this transition? This picture will be clear when data is analysed from different angles," a highly placed source aware of the developments of the probe told India FINAL REPORT WILL REVEALThe CVR, which captures conversations inside the cockpit, is being analysed by experts at the AAIB's Delhi laboratory. Analysis of the FDR data will give technical inputs on the aircraft, its engine and other a comprehensive inspection of the aircraft wreckage is also underway. The recovered components of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner were reassembled at a facility in original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have also been roped in to assist in forensic analysis of the components. The focus is on identifying any malfunctions or technical problems with the all three data sets are fully decoded and analysed, they will be synchronised to create a comprehensive reconstruction of the timeline of the the preliminary report shed light on what happened, the detailed analysis will help determine how and why the June 12 crash happened.- EndsTune InMust Watch
The Hindu
22-07-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
History of air crash probes shows investigators disagree on pilot complicity
In two out of four fatal aircrash probes studied by academic researchers, the investigators from the national agencies disagreed with the United States National Safety Transport Board (NTSB) on whether the pilots intentionally crashed their planes. In three of the four cases, the length of investigations averaged two-three years and in two cases the deceased pilots were proven to have a history of clinically-diagnosed depression. Three of these cases involved one of the pilots having control of the aircraft and alone in the cockpit and the co-pilots for brief periods being unable to access controls. 'Psychological autopsy' – a form of forensic investigation into the deceased's mental state – was a key factor in determining pilot intentionality and even then 'there could rarely be certainty about suicidal intent being the sole cause of an accident,' Alpo Vuorio, psychologist and an academic researcher of aviation disasters, told The Hindu in an email. Questions on the mental health of the pilot have surfaced around the ongoing investigation into the AI-171 flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick on June 12 where 241 passengers, including crew, died and another 19 were killed on the ground. Though only a preliminary report is out, speculation is rife that the captain may have sabotaged the plane's fuel intake during take-off. Pilot associations in India have vociferously objected to such a characterisation with Ministers advocating restraint until the investigation has concluded. Since 1994, there have been only six confirmed instances globally involving commercial planes where investigating agencies attributed the accident to actions by the pilot. Within these, only four have published reports and analyses in academic literature. Overall, such crashes are a rarity. Based on flying-accident reports in the United States from 1993–2021, 24 out of 7,244 – or 0.33% — fatal accident cases in general aviation were formally attributed to be 'aircraft-assisted suicides' (0.33%). The vast majority of these accidents involved pilots flying their own planes or those of very small operators where planes usually didn't carry FDR (Flight Data Recorder) and CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder), said a 2023 study led by Dr. Vuorio in the journal Aviation Space Environment. The first of these was Silk Air Flight 185 (Jakarta- Singapore) in December 1999, which killed 97 passengers and seven crew members. A Boeing 737, it crashed into the Musi River, Sumatra, after nose-diving from an altitude of nearly 35,000 feet. Its CVR and FDR stopped recording following which the plane rapidly descended and crashed within a minute. Following a nearly three-year investigation, the National Transportation Safety Corporation (NTSC) – the Indonesian equivalent of India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau that is investigating the Ahmedabad crash – concluded that the 'technical investigation has yielded no evidence to explain the cause of the accident.' The U.S. agency NTSB dissented. 'There was no evidence of a mechanical failure of any of the flight control systems or related components that would have been causal or contributing to the accident and the accident can be explained by intentional pilot action,' said the 140-page report. Along with a technical analysis, this report also placed on record that the captain, who had commandeered the plane, was reportedly battling a financial crisis, though it was also stated that he displayed no aberrant behaviour prior to the flight. The second accident occurred on October 31, 1999, when Egypt Air flight 990, a Boeing 767, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, south of Massachusetts. About 29 minutes after take-off, the FDR showed that the First Officer disconnected the autopilot. He was alone in the cockpit with the Captain having left for a bathroom break. The FDR recorded an abrupt nose-down elevator movement — the instrument meant to control the plane's pitch (up and down movement) — and the aircraft began a precipitous descent. The CVR recorded that the First Officer, a native Arabic speaker, said several times, 'I rely on God'. After that, the FDR recorded additional unexpected movement of the aileron – a device on the tail to control a plane's rolling movements. A master warning alarm began to sound, and the Captain, who was returning from the toilet, was wondering aloud what was happening. The aircraft crashed about two minutes later. The NTSB determined that the 'probable cause was... as a result of the First Officer's flight control inputs. The reason for the First Officer's actions was not determined'. However media coverage speculated on a wide variety of causes ranging from the first officer's 'religious extremism' to alleged disputes with colleagues. The Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA), while first collaborating with the NTSB on the investigation, concluded that 'the officer did not deliberately dive the air-plane into the ocean' and that mechanical failure was 'a plausible and likely cause of the accident'. The third accident, on November 2013, involved the Mozambique Airlines Flight 470 from Maputo, Mozambique to Luanda, Angola. The Embraer E190 twinjet crashed into the Bwabwata National Park, Namibia, killing all 27 passengers and six crew members. About an hour and 50 minutes into the flight, the First Officer stated that he had to go to the toilet. The Captain handled the auto flight system leading to a 'sustained descent and collision with the terrain', says the investigation report. While here the investigation agencies of the Mozambique and Namibia attributed the plane's 'unnatural' descent to the pilot, the Mozambique Association of Air Operators disputed the finding. The investigation lasted three years. The fourth analysed accident — the only one where there was rapid, unanimous consensus that a pilot, with a history of psychiatric problems, intentionally crashed the plane — occurred on March 24, 2015 with Germanwings flight 4U9525 from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany. There were 150 casualties following the crash of the Airbus A-320. According to the investigation report, in the cruise phase of the flight, the First Officer waited until he was alone in the cockpit. Then he modified the autopilot settings causing the aeroplane to descend and, kept the cockpit door locked. The First Officer did not respond to the calls from air traffic controllers, and the aircraft fell into the French Alps. One of the quickest investigations, which officially concluded within a year, the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) and its German counterpart, the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) concluded that the pilot had deliberately crashed the plane as a 'murder-suicide'. German investigators found a doctor's note in the pilot's apartment, three days following the crash, indicating that he was 'unfit to fly'. They also reported that he suffered from 'psychiatric illnesses' and a post-mortem analysis of his body found the presence of a combination of antidepressants, escitalopram and mirtazapine and a sleep medication, zopiclone. The investigation report mentioned that he had researched online ways to 'commit suicide' before commandeering the flight. 'The links between pilot suicides and social change, such as unemployment threats and financial recession, have not been studied, given the low numbers of pilot suicide cases as well as the unpredictability and infrequency of recession, coupled with methodological challenges such as suitable comparison groups and the absence of baseline measures,' said Dr. Vuorio. 'However, it has been found that significant sudden changes in society may increase the number of pilot suicides. For example, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, the risk of suicide by aircraft in the year following the attack was almost four times the average risk in the five years prior to the terrorist attack. Significant, sudden and adverse changes in society can have an impact on pilot mental health,' he added.
India Gazette
13-07-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Fuel switches moved without input, points to possible glitch": Federation of Indian Pilots Chief on AI171 crash report
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 13 (ANI): President of the Federation of Indian Pilots, Charanvir Singh Randhawa, on Sunday raised doubts over the preliminary report on the Air India AI171 crash, saying it fails to clarify who was in control of the cockpit and points to a possible electrical or software malfunction in the aircraft. Speaking to ANI, Randhawa said, 'The aircraft was actually being flown by the co-pilot, who was the one controlling the plane, while the captain, who was the pilot-in-command, was monitoring the flight. So, it's still unclear who made the key decisions. The preliminary report doesn't make that clear, even though it would have been easy to identify from the Cockpit Voice Recorder who was speaking.' He added that the report mentions fuel control switches changing position on their own, which could indicate a serious glitch. 'The report also mentions that the fuel control switches changed position, from cutoff to run, on their own. This suggests there might have been an electrical or software glitch. It seems the system detected that the switch had been moved, even though no one physically touched it.' Randhawa also referred to a Boeing advisory from 2018 warning about similar fuel switch issues in 737 aircraft. 'Back in December 2018, Boeing issued an advisory about similar fuel control switch malfunctions in some 737 aircraft. If that information was available, then all the aircraft should have been checked. This circular should have been a directive rather than just an advisory,' he said. Randhawa said he does not believe the pilots would have moved the switches unless both engines had failed, which the report does not confirm. 'I don't believe the pilots would have moved the fuel control switches unless they were aware of a dual engine failure causing a loss of thrust. But according to the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), they didn't move the switches. This points to a possible issue in the aircraft's electronic system.' He further added, 'Yet, the preliminary report seems to give a clean chit, saying there was nothing wrong with the engines or Boeing's systems. But many questions remain unanswered. A proper investigation is still needed to understand what really happened after the aircraft took off.' According to Randhawa, flight data shows the aircraft reached a speed of 180 knots at 08:08 for two seconds. Ten seconds later, the fuel control switches either changed manually or the system recorded a change, possibly without physical input. He also pointed out that the landing gear was not retracted and the flaps remained in the takeoff position, suggesting a possible system failure. The President of the Federation of Indian Pilots said,'We know from the flight data that the plane reached a speed of 180 knots at 08:08 for two seconds. Ten seconds later, at 08:08:52, the fuel control switches were either manually reset or the system detected a change, possibly without physical input. Also, it's clear that the landing gear wasn't retracted, and the flaps remained in takeoff position. This suggests some malfunction may have occurred.' 'If the pilots moved the switches, it may have been in response to the issue. If not, it may have been an electrical fault that falsely indicated a change,' Randhawa said. 'I hope that in the next phase of the investigation, these questions are answered clearly. It's also important that the CVR transcript identifies who was giving the commands in the cockpit,' Randhawa added. The crash of Air India flight AI171, a Boeing Dreamliner 787-8, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, claimed 260 lives, including 229 passengers, 12 crew members, and 19 people on the ground. (ANI)
NDTV
13-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
"Air India Crash Report Unclear On Who Made Decisions": Pilots' Federation
Mumbai: President of the Federation of Indian Pilots, Charanvir Singh Randhawa, on Sunday raised doubts over the preliminary report on the Air India AI171 crash, saying it fails to clarify who was in control of the cockpit and points to a possible electrical or software malfunction in the aircraft. Speaking to ANI, Randhawa said, "The aircraft was actually being flown by the co-pilot, who was the one controlling the plane, while the captain, who was the pilot-in-command, was monitoring the flight. So, it's still unclear who made the key decisions. The preliminary report doesn't make that clear, even though it would have been easy to identify from the Cockpit Voice Recorder who was speaking." He added that the report mentions fuel control switches changing position on their own, which could indicate a serious glitch. "The report also mentions that the fuel control switches changed position, from cutoff to run, on their own. This suggests there might have been an electrical or software glitch. It seems the system detected that the switch had been moved, even though no one physically touched it." Randhawa also referred to a Boeing advisory from 2018 warning about similar fuel switch issues in 737 aircraft. "Back in December 2018, Boeing issued an advisory about similar fuel control switch malfunctions in some 737 aircraft. If that information was available, then all the aircraft should have been checked. This circular should have been a directive rather than just an advisory," he said. Randhawa said he does not believe the pilots would have moved the switches unless both engines had failed, which the report does not confirm. "I don't believe the pilots would have moved the fuel control switches unless they were aware of a dual engine failure causing a loss of thrust. But according to the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), they didn't move the switches. This points to a possible issue in the aircraft's electronic system." He further added, "Yet, the preliminary report seems to give a clean chit, saying there was nothing wrong with the engines or Boeing's systems. But many questions remain unanswered. A proper investigation is still needed to understand what really happened after the aircraft took off." According to Randhawa, flight data shows the aircraft reached a speed of 180 knots at 08:08 for two seconds. Ten seconds later, the fuel control switches either changed manually or the system recorded a change, possibly without physical input. He also pointed out that the landing gear was not retracted and the flaps remained in the takeoff position, suggesting a possible system failure. The President of the Federation of Indian Pilots said,"We know from the flight data that the plane reached a speed of 180 knots at 08:08 for two seconds. Ten seconds later, at 08:08:52, the fuel control switches were either manually reset or the system detected a change, possibly without physical input. Also, it's clear that the landing gear wasn't retracted, and the flaps remained in takeoff position. This suggests some malfunction may have occurred." "If the pilots moved the switches, it may have been in response to the issue. If not, it may have been an electrical fault that falsely indicated a change," Randhawa said. "I hope that in the next phase of the investigation, these questions are answered clearly. It's also important that the CVR transcript identifies who was giving the commands in the cockpit," Randhawa added. The crash of Air India flight AI171, a Boeing Dreamliner 787-8, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, claimed 260 lives, including 229 passengers, 12 crew members, and 19 people on the ground.
NDTV
12-07-2025
- General
- NDTV
First, Final Plane Crash Reports Different In Most Cases: Ex Probe Body Head
With speculation reaching a fever pitch after the preliminary probe report of the Air India Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad was released in the early hours of Saturday, a former director general of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has cautioned that the initial findings of aircraft crash investigations and the final findings are different in most cases. Speaking to NDTV Profit, Group Captain Aurobindo Handa (retd), who handled over 100 such investigations himself - including the August 2020 crash of an Air India Express flight from Dubai to Kozhikode - said this probe will be very difficult for the AAIB because most of the plane has been charred, and the final report could take time. The Air India Dreamliner 787-8 had crashed into a medical college's hostel in Ahmedabad on June 12, just 32 seconds after taking off. One passenger had miraculously survived, but all the other 241 people on board and at least 20 on the ground were killed. In its preliminary probe report, the AAIB noted that both engines of the plane had shut down mid-air within seconds of take-off and both fuel cutoff switches, which control the flow of fuel to the engines, moved from 'RUN' to 'CUTOFF' position within a second of each other. The report said that in the cockpit voice recording, one pilot can be heard asking, "Why did you cut off?" and the other replies, "I did not do so". To a question on the time it will take for the final probe report and whether the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)-recommended 12-month period will be met, Group Captain Handa said the AAIB team will apply the method of elimination and check whether each system was functioning properly. "And then they will deliberate on the exact cause or maybe the probable cause of the accident. As of now, even though the report is out, it just contains the facts of what has gone on in those 30-odd seconds. It is nothing conclusive. So we shouldn't jump to the conclusion that this report is moving in this or that direction, because we have seen the initial findings and the final findings are at variance in the majority of the investigations," the former AAIB Director General said. On whether the black box, consisting of the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder, will need to be sent to the manufacturer to extract data, Group Captain Handa said he does not think that will be a requirement. "I think all the data is available to them, from the startup to the crash. I don't think there is any requirement," he said. Investigation Details Asked about how the investigators will go about determining exactly what happened, Group Captain Handa said they will have to simulate all possible scenarios. The Kozhikode accident, he said, "was much clearer to the investigators than this because this aircraft (involved in the Ahmedabad crash) is, I would say, 90 per cent charred. So this will pose a huge challenge." In Kozhikode, a Boeing 737 had skidded off the runway and broken into two after landing, killing 21 people. On the likely timeline for the final report on the Ahmedabad crash, Mr Handa said the process is thorough and will take time. "I would request everyone through your medium that we shouldn't be expecting miracles because this aircraft crash investigation is a very long-drawn process and it's a very thorough process. We have to follow a manual which has been given by the ICAO and which has also been adopted by the AAIB," he said. The ICAO-recommended time is 12 months, he said, and it is the same for the AAIB. "They will try to hasten it and submit a report as soon as possible because the stakes are very high in this accident. But it can take time, and no one, not even the present director general of the AAIB, can tell you the exact timeline because it will depend on how things are revealed as they delve into the data," Group Captain Handa said.
