New Air India Crash Details As US Media Accesses Pilots' Last Conversation

A cockpit recording of the last conversation between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month in Gujarat's Ahmedabad indicates that the Captain cut off the fuel to the plane's engine, according to a US media report.

The report in the Wall Street Journal says the first officer flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner asked the more-experienced Captain why he moved the switches to the "cutoff" position, shortly after the flight took off from the runway. The first officer then expressed panic, while the Captain remained calm, the report says.

The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had a total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours. They were among the 241 people onboard who were killed in the crash, along with 19 people on the ground. Only one passenger survived the crash.

The Wall Street Journal cites a preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AIIB), which also suggests that the fuel cutoff switches for both engines were moved to the cutoff position, one after another, within a 1-second interval, at an altitude just moments after liftoff. The time between takeoff and crash was just 32 seconds, it said.

The details in the preliminary report suggest it was the captain who turned off the switches, the Wall Street Journal says, citing people familiar with the matter, US pilots and safety experts tracking the probe. "The report didn't say whether turning off the switches might have been accidental or deliberate," says the US publication.

'Don't jump to conclusions'

Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said last week that the report is only based on preliminary findings and "one should not jump to conclusions" till the final report is released.

"I don't think we should jump to any conclusions over this. I believe we have the most wonderful workforce of pilots and crew in the whole world. I have to appreciate all the efforts the pilots and crew of the country are putting, they are the backbone of civil aviation. They are the primary resource of civil aviation. We care for the welfare and well-being of the pilots, too. So let us not jump into any conclusions at this stage and wait for the final report," he said.

Mr Naidu added, "There are technicalities involved. It will be very premature to comment on the report. The preliminary has come in, but we have to wait for something concrete to come in."

Indian pilots' body condemns US media report

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) President, CS Randhawa, on Thursday slammed the Wall Street Journal's "baseless" report and vowed to take action against the publication. Emphasising that the AIIB's preliminary report makes no mention of the pilots turning off the switches controlling fuel flow to the engines, Mr Randhawa said that people should not draw their conclusions before the final report is out.

"Nowhere in the report has it been mentioned that the fuel control switch was turned off due to the pilot's mistake. I condemn the article. They said it was the pilot's mistake. They have not read the report properly, and we will take action against them through FIP. We had issued a press statement yesterday that no channel, commentator or president of any agency should give such an opinion that has no basis. The detailed report will take time; till then, people are giving their own opinions without any basis, which is not right," he told the news agency ANI.

Air India checks fuel control switches

Air India, which completed the precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) across its fleet of Boeing 787-8 aircraft, said that it did not find any issues during the checks. The inspections were conducted on the directive of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

"Over the weekend, our Engineering team initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all our Boeing 787 aircraft. The inspections have been completed, and no issues were found," the airline informed its flight crew.

The airline also confirmed that all of its Boeing 787-8 aircraft have undergone Throttle Control Module (TCM) replacements as part of Boeing's prescribed maintenance schedule. The Fuel Control Switch is an integrated part of the TCM.