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Preliminary report says fuel switches were cut off before Air India Boeing 787 crash
National Public Radio ^ | 7/11/25 | Joel Rose, Russell Lewis

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.


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 787; aerospace; boeing; crash; holdmybeer; india; oopsie
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To: Williams

OP, paragraph 4


41 posted on 07/11/2025 5:56:47 PM PDT by TexasGator (.i.. logo About Issues Projects Products Connect Subscribe Invest June 19, 2025 | Insight '1-1111 -)
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To: TexasGator

That is not a purely logical assumption at all. Not when there is the possibility that they never were off. It is possible that some kind of computer problem caused the computer to think that they were off momentary. Like a Ghost in the machine.

1. The other two possibility’s are that one of the pilots had the desire to commit mass murder and suicide.

2. One of them was to incompetent to operate a TV remote control.


42 posted on 07/11/2025 5:59:23 PM PDT by Revel
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To: Yossarian

“So, it took the Indians about 10 days to do the time-critical work of actually evaluating the data recorders.”

The boxes were heavily damaged and not readable i. The normal matter. It happens.

And just because you didn’t hear it for ten days doesn’t mean that Boeing just read it today.


43 posted on 07/11/2025 6:01:43 PM PDT by TexasGator (.i.. logo About Issues Projects Products Connect Subscribe Invest June 19, 2025 | Insight '1-1111 -)
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To: Revel

“That is not a purely logical assumption at all. Not when there is the possibility that they never were off.”

LOL!


44 posted on 07/11/2025 6:05:52 PM PDT by TexasGator (.i.. logo About Issues Projects Products Connect Subscribe Invest June 19, 2025 | Insight '1-1111 -)
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To: TexasGator
And just because you didn’t hear it for ten days doesn’t mean that Boeing just read it today.

The news reports have made it abundantly clear that the Indians did not START their black-box study work until about 10 days after they FOUND the black boxes.

45 posted on 07/11/2025 6:29:35 PM PDT by Yossarian
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To: Williams
Where is that in the report, because that would be definitive.

Page 14: https://aaib.gov.in/What's%20New%20Assets/Preliminary%20Report%20VT-ANB.pdf

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.

46 posted on 07/11/2025 6:47:34 PM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: TexasGator

If the copilot was flying he could have just as easily moved the switches,

He could also have just flown the plane into the ground. So the culprit was the right seat pilot unless someone else was in the cockpit.


47 posted on 07/11/2025 7:28:18 PM PDT by waredbird (Rrect. )
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To: waredbird

“So the culprit was the right seat pilot “

That would be the copilot who was flying the.plane.

So, why didn’t he fly it into the ground?


48 posted on 07/11/2025 7:38:34 PM PDT by TexasGator (.i.. logo About Issues Projects Products Connect Subscribe Invest June 19, 2025 | Insight '1-1111 -)
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To: waredbird
If the copilot was flying he could have just as easily moved the switches

While of course anything is possible, whom ever is “flying the plane”, especially at takeoff, would be focused on the outside view and the critical status instruments immediately in front of him.

Those "fuel cutoff" switches? They’re down low outside of the peripheral vision of anyone looking out the front window.

Eh, all this is speculation. We’ll find out all details in a year or so.

The key thing is that it wasn’t a problem with the 787 or its engines. As horrible as this crash was, that’s still a big sigh of relief.

49 posted on 07/11/2025 8:16:56 PM PDT by Yossarian
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To: ChronicMA

The fuel cut off was done at the most critical moment of takeoff. This was suicide and mass murder. The captain seemed confused on the radio as he was saying he had no power. It would have never occurred to him that the other pilot sabotaged the plane. You have procedures for engine failures but not sabotage.


50 posted on 07/11/2025 10:17:36 PM PDT by cpdiii (cane cutter, deckhand, oilfield roughneck, drilling fluid tech, geologist, pilot, pharmacist ,MAGA)
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To: Yo-Yo

“Ghosts in the machine”


51 posted on 07/11/2025 10:26:21 PM PDT by RckyRaCoCo (Please pray for my brother Ken)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

My thoughts exactly. Religion in a pigs eye.

Islam is a murder cult.


52 posted on 07/11/2025 11:49:44 PM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
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To: Yossarian

A preliminary investigation report issued by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau on Saturday said fuel control switches to the engines of the Air India flight that crashed on 12 June were moved from the “run” to the “cutoff” position moments before impact. The report did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the disaster.

https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20250712-reports-says-fuel-to-air-india-jet-engines-cut-off-before-crash


53 posted on 07/12/2025 12:32:36 AM PDT by Texan4Life
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To: MoraBlack

We await to find out which pilot said what...


54 posted on 07/12/2025 12:37:42 AM PDT by Texan4Life
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To: Yossarian

Sounding like possible suicide. Take a look at their financial & health records.


55 posted on 07/12/2025 5:43:09 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Warning: Accused of being a radical militarist. Approach with caution.)
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To: Williams

It’s in the accident report. Read the PDF on the website.


56 posted on 07/12/2025 6:11:32 AM PDT by dinodino ( Shut it down anyway. )
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To: Revel

The switches were moved to the off position and the engines quit. They weren’t switched back on for ten seconds. The data is unambiguous.


57 posted on 07/12/2025 6:13:09 AM PDT by dinodino ( Shut it down anyway. )
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To: dinodino

Yes I see thank you.


58 posted on 07/12/2025 10:18:50 AM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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