Preliminary report into Air India crash released

Post by fracus » Fri, Jul 11, 2025, 9:57 PM UTC

lazharichir wrote: post #6

rawgabbit wrote: post #2

Quote: As we just reported, the report says that according to data from the flight recorder both the fuel control switches, which are normally used to switch the engines on or off when on the ground, were moved from the run to the cutoff position shortly after takeoff. This caused both engines to lose thrust. The preliminary report suggests this is pilot error.

From my (limited) understanding you cannot really switch these off inadvertently as they require a couple of actions in order to be switched off. So it would mean one of the pilots switched these off (and they were a few seconds later switched on again but it was too late). But there was audio, too, and one pilot asked the other "why did you switch these off" and the second one said "I didn't". Was there are third on…

Post by snypher » Fri, Jul 11, 2025, 9:57 PM UTC

joezydeco wrote: post #29

ummonk wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to pull the switches out (against a spring) to be able to move them over a notch and flip them. Not really something you can just mistake for another switch or bump into by accident. I'd liken it to turning off the ignition by turning the key while driving your car. Possibly something that could happen if you're really fatigued, but requires quite a mental lapse.

Report says the switches went to cutoff one second apart from each other. Can a human do the physical operation on two switches that quickly?

Post by ssl232 » Fri, Jul 11, 2025, 10:06 PM UTC

bgwalter wrote: post #25

decimalenough wrote: post #11

> The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC 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. So the fuel supply was cut off intentionally. The swi…

Does the Flight Data Recorder consider the physical position of the fuel switches or does it get the information from some fly-by-wire part that could be buggy? The conversation would suggest that the switches were in CUTOFF position, but there is also a display that summarizes the engine status. There is no conversation that mentions flipping the switch to RUN again. EDIT: Why is there no Cockpit Video Recorder? The…

Post by breadwinner » Fri, Jul 11, 2025, 10:19 PM UTC

ummonk wrote: post #19

decimalenough wrote: post #11

> The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC 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. So the fuel supply was cut off intentionally. The swi…

Yeah and the other pilot flipped the switches back on and one of the engines started spooling up but it was too late. Murder-suicide looks like the likely conclusion, given that flipping the cutoff switches requires a very deliberate action. That said, it's not entirely impossible that due to stress or fatigue the pilot had some kind of mental lapse and post-flight muscle memory (of shutting off the engines) kicked i…

Post by Jtsummers » Fri, Jul 11, 2025, 10:21 PM UTC

breadwinner wrote: post #37

ummonk wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah and the other pilot flipped the switches back on and one of the engines started spooling up but it was too late. Murder-suicide looks like the likely conclusion, given that flipping the cutoff switches requires a very deliberate action. That said, it's not entirely impossible that due to stress or fatigue the pilot had some kind of mental lapse and post-flight muscle memory (of shutting off the engines) kicked i…

> post-flight muscle memory (of shutting off the engines) kicked in Possible, and if so it is too early to conclude it was murder-suicide. See also: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dgca-slaps-80-lakh-fi...