Featured Image Credit: Ritesh Shukla/Getty
Topics: Air India, India, World News
Britt Jones
Now that the cause of the Air India crash has been determined by a preliminary report, an expert has revealed why the incident sounds like it could be a deliberate act.
Just recently, it was announced that the cause of the Air India plane’s crash, which claimed the lives of 260 people, was caused by a button that helped the plane fly being switched off.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner caused devastation on June 12 when it struck a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad, India, at 1.38pm (local time) shortly after takeoff.
With 242 passengers and crew on board the aircraft, all sadly died except 40-year-old British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who managed to walk out of the wreckage in a miraculous event.
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However, another 19 people died after the plane crashed into the hostel just a mile from the runway.
Since the ordeal, many have speculated as to why the plane crashed within 30 seconds of taking off, and a cockpit recording has revealed to investigators that an exchange between the pilot and co-pilot revealed the answer.
The report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau was published yesterday (July 11), which found that the two men 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, and they denied doing it.
It read: "The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS [indicated airspeed] at about 08:08:42 UTC [Coordinated Universal Time - which India Standard Time is five-and-a-half hours ahead of] and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec.
"The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off."
While pilots generally cut off the engines after the plane lands, they typically only do it in the air if there is an emergency, for instance, a fire in the engines.
However, cutting both engines is a rare case.
The report does not indicate there was any emergency that required the pilots to cut the fuel supply, but it also doesn’t conclude how the switches moved to that position.
For aviation expert David Learmount, ‘it sounds deliberate’, but he added ‘there are cases of pilots carrying out an incorrect action instead of what they should be doing’.
He told Sky News that all the pilots had to do at the time was to retract the plane's undercarriage, but they did not do this.
He added: "Was that it? These switches are nowhere near the undercarriage lever and look totally different.
"The fuel switches cannot be turned on or off by mistake. They have to be pulled out before selecting up (run) or down (cut off)."
Tim Atkinson, a pilot and aviation consultant, also told Sky News: "One would be an utterly extraordinary human error, an unintentional act, and the other - I'm very sorry to say - would be an intentional act.
"And that's not a suggestion or allegation, it's simply an analysis of the small amount of information that we have at hand at this moment."
Even though one of the engines was able to be restarted, it was unable to reverse the plane's deceleration, as per the report.
The report said: "At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to Boeing 787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers."