AAIB preliminary report on Air India plane crash reveals aircraft’s engine fuel supply was cutoff

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary investigation report into the Air India Flight AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad last month revealed that both fuel switches of the plane were moved to cut-off position from run within seconds after the take off leading to the crash.

The 15-page report, released midnight Friday, stated that the fuel cutoff switches were “transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec”, rasing questioning about the pilot’s actions.

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The AAIB report also shared the cockpit voice recording of the pilots moment before the crash. In the recording, one pilot is heard asking the other why did he shut the engines down.

However, the other pilot denies doing that, raising suspicion that the crash that killed 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew members on board, was not caused by routine or accidentally actions.

“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” read the report.

Shortly after this, the fuel switches were turned on but the altitude was very low to give the engine time to regain thrust. The plane crashed into a hospital’s hostel building.

All but one of the 242 passengers, including the pilots and the crew members, were killed in the crash. One person survived miraculously.

Due to the impact of the crash, 19 people, mostly trainee doctors, who were in the hostel building, also lost their lives.

Experts believe the fuel cut-off switches are guarded and this is highly unlikely to happen on its own. The fuel cut-off swtiches require deliberate operation and are commenly used in emergency situations such as mid air engine fire.

The report also ruled out bird hit theory. More over, the fuel that was used in the plane was also found to be satisfactory.