This pilot says that would be impossible. It was deliberately done by a human hand in the cockpit. The way the cutoff switch is designed prevents accidental movement.
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My God, this is so sad. Sounds like hacking the aircraft’s system.
Apparently no electronic hacking on this one.
Those "fuel cutoff" switches are very carefully mechanically designed, to require explicit action.
Each switch a small "ball" a the tip of the switch. To change positions, you:
1. have to pull the switch OUT, so that it
2. gets out of a detent for that switch position,
3. then you rotate it to the new position,
4. then let go and
5. make sure it settles down into the detent for the new position.
On top of that, they have metal blocker structures on the side of them to prevent accidental switching, like catching of the switches on clothing, bracelets, cufflinks, etc.
A short of both switches, perhaps? The RAT deployed...the plane certainly acted like the switches were moved. , but I wonder....
No, this involves manually manipulating two separate switches. They must be pulled out past a spring loaded detent then thrown into the off position. Nothing about that is anything other than intentional human interaction.
It also happened at the worst possible time, when the other pilot could not do anthing about it because they were so low.
Nobody is saying it directly on the pilot blogs and YouTube channels, but murder-suicide is very likely.
This pilot says that would be impossible. It was deliberately done by a human hand in the cockpit. The way the cutoff switch is designed prevents accidental movement.
.