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Ahmedabad Crash Report Raises More Questions Than Answers
A preliminary report into last month’s devastating Air India crash in Ahmedabad has revealed a critical engine failure, but left investigators puzzled about the cause. The crash of Flight AI171, shortly after takeoff, resulted in the tragic loss of 260 lives – 241 onboard and 19 on the ground. Only one passenger survived.
The Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) report confirms that fuel supply to both engines was abruptly cut off as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was ascending. Data from the flight recorder, or “black box,” indicates the aircraft reached an airspeed of 180 knots before the fuel switches for both engines were flipped from “RUN” to “CUTOFF” within a single second. A recorded conversation between the pilots captures one asking the other why the switches were flipped, with the other pilot denying responsibility.
While the engines were successfully restarted seconds later, the interruption proved fatal, sending the plane into an unrecoverable descent and crashing into a densely populated area near the airport.
The central question remains: how were the fuel switches moved to the cutoff position? The report doesn’t determine whether it was deliberate, accidental, or caused by a technical malfunction.
The switches, located between the pilots and protected by a metal guard, are designed to prevent accidental activation. Aviation experts find it improbable that both switches could be flipped inadvertently.
Former pilot Ehsan Khalid, speaking to Reuters, cautioned against premature conclusions, emphasizing that the report only confirms the engine power loss as the cause of the crash. He pointed out the pilots’ awareness of the power loss and their insistence that they took no action to cause it.
Air safety specialist Geoffrey Dell echoed this sentiment, describing the simultaneous cutoff of both engines right after takeoff as “bizarre” and unprecedented. He noted the procedure mirrors how pilots shut down engines after landing, not during takeoff.
The report mentions a 2018 US Federal Aviation Administration bulletin regarding a potential issue with the fuel switch locking mechanism, but Air India reportedly did not conduct related inspections as the issue wasn’t deemed a safety threat.
A full report is expected in several months. India’s Civil Aviation Minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, urged against jumping to conclusions, while Air India confirmed its continued cooperation with the investigation. The tragedy remains shrouded in mystery as investigators work to understand the sequence of events that led to this catastrophic loss.