A preliminary report on the devastating Air India crash, which tragically claimed the lives of 260 people, has revealed shocking new details.
The plane, which crashed shortly after takeoff in India, was believed to have experienced an electrical issue that caused the fuel cutoff switches to be inadvertently activated by the pilots.
According to the 15-page preliminary report published by SkyNews and the BBC, moments after takeoff, the fuel supply to the engines was cut off. The investigation points to the movement of two fuel control switches, typically used to start or stop engines while the aircraft is on the ground, shifting from the ‘RUN’ position to ‘CUTOFF.’ This happened within seconds after the plane had reached a speed of 180 knots.
One section of the report reads:
“The aircraft reached its maximum recorded speed of 180 knots IAS at approximately 08:08:42 UTC. Immediately after, the fuel supply switches for engines 1 and 2 moved from ‘RUN’ to ‘CUTOFF,’ one after the other, with a time difference of 1 second.”
As a result, both engines began to lose thrust, with the power from the engines dropping below takeoff levels.
Inside the cockpit, chaos ensued. The cockpit voice recorder allegedly captured a conversation in which one of the pilots is heard asking the other, “Why did you cut it off?” The second pilot responded, “I didn’t do it.”
Despite one of the engines being restarted, it wasn’t enough to counter the aircraft’s rapid deceleration. The report clarifies that no significant fault was found in the aircraft or its engines.
The investigation, which is still ongoing, has not drawn any conclusions yet but is focusing its attention on the actions of the pilots. The crash killed 241 passengers and 19 people on the ground. However, a miraculous survivor from seat 11A managed to escape unscathed.
The final findings will be eagerly awaited, as authorities continue their efforts to determine the exact cause of the tragedy, with the human factor now under intense scrutiny.
