The preliminary report has a photograph of the recovered throttle quadrant with the run/cutoff switches in the RUN postion.
Posted on 07/11/2025 4:00:15 PM PDT by Yossarian
A pair of switches that control the fuel supply to the engines were set to "cutoff" moments before the crash of Air India Flight 171, according to a preliminary report from India's Air Accident Investigation Bureau released early Saturday in India.
A total of 260 people were killed when the Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after it took off from Ahmedabad last month.
Indian investigators determined the jet was properly configured and lifted off normally. But three seconds after takeoff, the engines' fuel switches were cut off. It's not clear why.
According to the report, data from the flight recorders show that the two fuel control switches were switched from the "run" position to "cutoff" shortly after takeoff. In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots can be heard asking the other "why did he cutoff," the report says, while "the other pilot responded that he did not do so."
Moments later, the report says, the fuel switches were returned to the "run" position. But by then, the plane had begun to lose thrust and altitude. Both the engines appeared to relight, according to investigators, but only one of them was able to begin generating thrust.
The report does not draw any further conclusions about why the switches were flipped, but it does suggest that investigators are focused on the actions of the plane's pilots. The report does not present any evidence of mechanical failures or of a possible bird strike, which could have incapacitated both engines at the same time.
The first officer was the pilot flying at the time of the crash, according to investigators. The report suggests that there was nothing out of the ordinary about its takeoff — until the fuel control switches were flipped off.
There were 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound flight when it crashed into a medical college and burst into flames. Only one passenger — sitting in seat 11A — was able to walk away from the burning rubble. Nineteen people died on the ground.
This was the first ever hull loss of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which entered service in 2011.
“Indian investigators determined the jet was properly configured and lifted off normally. But three seconds after takeoff, the engines’ fuel switches were cut off. It’s not clear why.”
There roughly 200 million Muslims in India.
“In the past they would let the plane get to cruising altitude before finding an opportunity to lock the other pilot out of the cockpit.”
It’s a LOT EASIER now for those types of pilots to take down planes as they and their luggage are no longer screened by TSA (except randomly) - so even bringing a gun on board is not difficult. At least that’s the US policy.
Ya, Ya!
Given that the flap lever and the gear handle would both be moved UP, not DOWN as the fuel cutoff switches were, I find it very difficult to believe this was an inadvertent action.
Someone, most likely the pilot (as the copilot was the one flying) committed murder/suicide.
I thought this ight have been some sort of computerized control error, but apparently it was turned off manually. The question seems to be murderous intent or fatal incompetence?
The preliminary report has a photograph of the recovered throttle quadrant with the run/cutoff switches in the RUN postion.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-boeing-787-dreamliner-cockpit-controls-30458013.html
that’s the cockpit of a 787 i am not sure which are the fuel switches, but you can zoom in an stuff its cool!! a am guessing a pilot decided to suicide himself an the plane I don’t think it was a goof but whether we will ever know
lex
“During the ten seconds the fuel was cut, the CVR recorded one of the pilots asking the other why he cut the fuel, and the response was a denial”
Where is that in the report, because that would be definitive.
Switching them off was a direct action, you have to physically switch them, no computer action. I bet it was some kind of mussie jihad.
Local reportage...
FWIW, see the link at my reply #30.
Both a hardware failure or a software error could also make it appear that the switches were switched off even if they were not. I am not sure how one pilot thought they had been switched off. Is it because he physically saw they were off. Or is there some kind of warning he saw on his display screen that said they were off.
Unfortunately this report sucks because it is so vague. Why don’t they release full audio and the full data stream. What are they hiding?
Done. This is big news.
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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I somehow doubt one of the pilots cut off the fuel. From what i gather doing it by accident is more or less impossible, so if one of them did it it would have been on purpose.
According to the preliminary report one pilot asked the other why he cut off, the other answered that he did not do so. Call me naive, but would pilot one ask that question if he tried to crash the plane? Or would pilot two lie in that situation? For what? He is as good as dead and he knows it.
“For what?”
Diversion
“In the past they would let the plane get to cruising altitude before finding an opportunity to lock the other pilot out of the cockpit.”
Now a another crew member has to stay in the cockpit.
“I am not sure how one pilot thought they had been switched off. Is it because he physically saw they were off. “
He moved them back to the run position so it would be logical to assume he saw them off.
“Someone, most likely the pilot (as the copilot was the one flying) committed murder/suicide.”
If the copilot was flying he could have just as easily moved the switches,
Boeing’s fault!!! They should have made the airplane idiot proof.
/s
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