Demonstration of Boeing fuel switch adds to chilling theory after cause of Air India crash revealed

A demonstration of how a fuel switch works on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner has added to a chilling theory being discussed regarding the devastating Air India crash.

Bound for London Gatwick, Air India Flight AI171 crashed just 30 seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, in western India, last month.

The flight was carrying 242 people on board and of these, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were British nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals, according to a statement issued by Air India.

The crash resulted in the deaths of 241 people onboard, leaving one passenger, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, as the sole survivor.

An investigation into the crash was launched by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), with a preliminary report on the tragedy being released on Friday (July 11).

An initial report into the crash revealed the cause (Raju Shinde/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

India’s AAIB found that the fuel control switches in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner had been flipped, starving the engines of fuel.

The report found the pilot and co-pilot had been in a conversation regarding why fuel supplies to the engines were cut off before the crash.

One of the pilots asked the other why they had cut off the engines, to which they denied doing it.

Aviation expert David Learmount claimed ‘it sounds deliberate’, but he added ‘there are cases of pilots carrying out an incorrect action instead of what they should be doing’.

Fuel switches regulate fuel flow into a plane's engines and are typically used by pilots to start or shut down engines on the ground. They can also be used to manually shut down or even restart engines in the event of an engine failure while the plane is in the sky.

A video uploaded by The Aviation Channel on YouTube reveals how the switches on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner operate.

The switches must be 'deliberately lifted' before being pushed down, which suggests they cannot be activated accidentally, the video notes.

The flight recorder states the switches for both engines on the Air India aircraft transitioned to 'CUTOFF' from 'RUN' just seconds after takeoff, Reuters reports.

The engines began to lose power as a result, as the switches were moved back to 'RUN' seconds later. Both switches were found at 'RUN' at the crash site, according to the report.

Friday's report said that when fuel switches are moved from 'CUTOFF' to 'RUN' while a plane is in the air, each engine's control system should automatically initiate a relight and thrust recovery sequence.

Speaking after the findings were published, aviation expert John Nance said, as per Reuters: "No sane pilot would ever turn those switches off in flight."

More details as to what exactly happened with the Air India tragedy will be released in due course.