Air India crash probe focusing on pilot actions, plane’s fuel switches

Preliminary findings indicate that switches controlling fuel flow to the jet’s two engines were turned off, leading to an apparent loss of thrust shortly after takeoff.

The investigation into last month’s Air India crash is focusing on the actions of the jet’s pilots and doesn’t so far point to a problem with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, according to people familiar with US officials’ early assessments.

Preliminary findings indicate that switches controlling fuel flow to the jet’s two engines were turned off, leading to an apparent loss of thrust shortly after takeoff, the people said. Pilots use the switches to start the jet’s engines, shut them down, or reset them in certain emergencies.

The switches would normally be on during flight, and it is unclear how or why they were turned off, these people said. The people also said it was unclear whether the move was accidental or intentional, or whether there was an attempt to turn them back on.

If the switches were off, that could explain why the jet’s emergency-power generator – known as a ram air turbine, or RAT – appears to have activated in the moments before the aircraft plummeted into a nearby hostel for medical students. In all, 260 people died, including all but one of the people on-board the plane.

Smoke rises from a residential area after Air India flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad. Picture; AFP.

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which is leading the probe, is expected to issue a preliminary report as soon as Friday local time. It didn’t respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

“Nothing can be said about the cause of the crash right now because the investigation is going on,” Indian civil aviation official Murlidhar Mohol told NDTV news channel in late June. “It’s a very rare incident – it has never happened that both the engines stopped together.” Sumeet Sabharwal, a pilot who served as the flight’s captain, had logged over 10,000 hours flying wide-body, or larger, aircraft, and his co-pilot, Clive Kunder, had over 3,400 hours of experience, Air India said. Family members of both pilots declined to comment.

The stakes for determining what factors led to any crash are high and have ramifications for all parties involved. In this case, Air India is the country’s oldest carrier and worked to turn around its operations after decades under state ownership. The crash was the first fatal accident involving Boeing’s Dreamliner at a time when the plane maker is trying to recover from a string of safety and quality problems.

International accident investigations often involve several countries, including those where crashes occurred and whose governments approved designs of aircraft involved. At times, there have been disagreements over access to information and the analysis of facts that emerge.

The US National Transportation Safety Board is providing support for the Indian-led probe. The Federal Aviation Administration, which certified the 787 Dreamliner for passenger service, and Boeing and GE Aerospace are providing technical assistance to Indian authorities.

The tail of Air India flight 171 embedded in an Ahmedabad building. Picture: AFP.

The Dreamliner, which entered service in 2011, is popular among the world’s airlines and is commonly used on international, long-haul routes and has had an excellent safety record. Boeing delivered the jet involved in the crash to Air India in January 2014.

So far, US officials’ early assessments of the crash probe don’t indicate a problem with that model aircraft or its GE engines, people familiar with the matter said.

Neither the FAA nor the plane and engine makers have issued any service bulletins or safety directives to address a potential problem with the fleet. Such moves are typical in response to investigation findings if they point to deficiencies in designs, maintenance or operating procedures.

The Air Current, an industry publication, earlier reported that the probe had narrowed its focus to the movement of the engine fuel control switches. Early assessments reached during investigations, which can take a year or longer, can be contradicted as new information emerges.

Indian officials have released little information to the public about the investigation, fuelling some frustration with American government and industry officials since the June 12 crash, some people familiar with the matter said.

US government and industry officials have also been frustrated by what they perceived as the slow pace of downloading, analysing and sharing the contents of the plane’s black boxes, these people said.

Indian authorities had earlier wanted to transport the plane’s black boxes – the flight-data and cockpit voice recorders – away from Delhi, where the country recently opened a new lab for analysing such accident data, to another secure location, according to some people familiar with the matter.

The plan was scrapped, and Indian investigators wound up downloading the boxes in Delhi.

At one point, the NTSB threatened to withdraw American resources from the investigation. In the end, the American investigators remained in the country to assist. They have since returned home.

Dow Jones