The preliminary report from investigators probing the Air India crash that killed 260 people showed that seconds after takeoff, the Boeing 787 plane's engine fuel control switches were switched off briefly, starving them of fuel.
According to the report, the flight lasted around 30 seconds between takeoff and crash. It said that once the aircraft achieved its top recorded speed, “the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another" within a second. The report did not say how the switches could have flipped to the cutoff position during the flight.
The movement of the fuel control switches allow and cut fuel flow to the plane’s engines.
The switches were flipped back into the run position, the report said, but the plane could not gain power quickly enough to stop its descent after the aircraft had begun to lose altitude.
Here is the sequence of events - by the seconds - on June 12, as detailed by Indian investigators in their preliminary report released on Saturday:
“One of the pilots transmitted “‘MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY’,” the report said.
It also indicated confusion in the cockpit moments before the crash.
In the flight’s final moment, one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said.
The plane’s black boxes — combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders — were recovered in the days following the crash and later downloaded in India.
Indian authorities had also ordered deeper checks of Air India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner to prevent future incidents. Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary findings on the fatal Air India Boeing 787-8 crash reveal that the flight’s previous crew had reported a stabilizer sensor defect earlier on the same day of the accident that killed 241 onboard the Boeing aircraft.
Following the defect report, Air India’s on-duty maintenance engineer conducted troubleshooting, and the aircraft was cleared for flight.
Also Read: Air India plane crash report out; Both engines 'cut off' mid-air '01 second apart'
"The Flight AI171 had arrived in Ahmedabad earlier that day as AI423 from Delhi. The previous crew had logged a defect report related to a stabilizer sensor (“STAB POS XDCR”). Air India’s on-duty maintenance engineer conducted troubleshooting, and the aircraft was cleared for flight," said the report.
According to the report, the flight lasted around 30 seconds between takeoff and crash. It said that once the aircraft achieved its top recorded speed, “the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another" within a second. The report did not say how the switches could have flipped to the cutoff position during the flight.
The movement of the fuel control switches allow and cut fuel flow to the plane’s engines.
The switches were flipped back into the run position, the report said, but the plane could not gain power quickly enough to stop its descent after the aircraft had begun to lose altitude.
Here is the sequence of events - by the seconds - on June 12, as detailed by Indian investigators in their preliminary report released on Saturday:
“One of the pilots transmitted “‘MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY’,” the report said.
It also indicated confusion in the cockpit moments before the crash.
In the flight’s final moment, one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said.
The plane’s black boxes — combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders — were recovered in the days following the crash and later downloaded in India.
Indian authorities had also ordered deeper checks of Air India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner to prevent future incidents. Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary findings on the fatal Air India Boeing 787-8 crash reveal that the flight’s previous crew had reported a stabilizer sensor defect earlier on the same day of the accident that killed 241 onboard the Boeing aircraft.
Following the defect report, Air India’s on-duty maintenance engineer conducted troubleshooting, and the aircraft was cleared for flight.
Also Read: Air India plane crash report out; Both engines 'cut off' mid-air '01 second apart'
"The Flight AI171 had arrived in Ahmedabad earlier that day as AI423 from Delhi. The previous crew had logged a defect report related to a stabilizer sensor (“STAB POS XDCR”). Air India’s on-duty maintenance engineer conducted troubleshooting, and the aircraft was cleared for flight," said the report.
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