Air India crash pilots ‘made fatal error seconds after take off’ investigators claim | World | News
An intial investigation into the tragic Air India plane crash that killed around 260 people last month – many of them Brits – may have pinpointed the exact cause of the devastating incident. Preliminary findings by US officials indicate switches controlling fuel flow to the engines of the plane had been turned off, leading to an apparent loss of thrust soon after it took off, sources familiar with their early assessments have claimed.
Such a scenario could explain why the commercial jet’s emergency-power generator appeared to have been activated shortly before it plummeted and crashed, killing all but one of the people onboard, the Wall Street Journal reports. Flight AI171 issued a Mayday call soon after taking flight and reached only 650 feet before slamming into a medical college complex.
A British national, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was the only person among the 242 people onboard the Boeing Dreamliner who survived and managed to walk away from the wreckage despite his injuries.
More than 50 other Brits were on the flight and perished in the crash, and least 19 people on the ground were also killed, according to reports.
The sources said it was unclear whether the switches had been turned off accidentally or intentionally, or if there had been an attempt to turn them back on.
The switches are used by pilots to start the engines, shut them down, or in certain emergencies, reset them.
The anonymous insiders, who were quoted by the newspaper on Thursday, said the investigation is focusing on the actions of pilots and so far doesn’t point to a problem with the aircraft.
The plane’s captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, and first officer Clive Kundar were highly experienced, with more than 9,000 hours of combined flying experience, according the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Murlidhar Mohol, an Indian civil aviation official, told NDTV news channel in late June: “Nothing can be said about the cause of the crash right now because the investigation is going on.”
The WSJ report came ahead of authorities in India being handed a preliminary report into the crash on Friday.
The document, filed by the Indian government’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), is based on the initial findings of their investigation, which the AAIB is leading, supported by UK and US safety agencies.
Guidelines set out by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), say a preliminary report should be released within a month of such an incident. However, India’s Civil Aviation Authority are not obliged to release it to the public.
Experts have said the report will indicate steps followed by investigators, findings of note, the sequence of events that led to Air India Flight 171 coming down shortly after take off, as well as available evidence, as per Sky News.
However, they emphasised that the document wasn’t likely to explore the causes of the crash. It’s also not expected to assign blame, with preliminary reports typically focussed on learnings, and how to prevent incidents happening again.
Following the crash, Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg offered the company’s “deepest condolences” to “the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board Air India Flight 171, as well as everyone affected in Ahmedabad”
She added that she had “spoken with Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran to offer our full support, and a Boeing team stands ready to support the investigation led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau”.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of the Tata Group which owns Air India, previously said investigators will “have our full cooperation, and we will be completely transparent about the findings”.
