Sorry about using NPR, but it is really hard to find any news-source on this breaking news that isn't locked away behind a paywall.
(Since we pay for NPR in our taxes, let's see if I can post this without excerpting the article...)
The preliminary report can be read here:
https://aaib.gov.in/What's%20New%20Assets/Preliminary%20Report%20VT-ANB.pdf
My God, this is so sad. Sounds like hacking the aircraft’s system.
suicidal pilots are going to have a revelation from this crash.
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. Redirecting the plane into the ground would take several minutes to accomplish.
You are so short of time at takeoff that several unexpected moves can be made that would not allow enough time for the other pilot to prevent the crash.
Haven’t read the article yet but if true, they were turned off on purpose. Those switches have to be manipulated specifically, multiple movements. They aren’t like light switches.
He stated that the fuel switches were found in the "Cutoff" position, but here it is made clear that they were set back into the "Run" position before the crash.
Also of note, from this Boston Globe article:
The switches have safeguards designed to stop them from being inadvertently moved.
“Each switch has a mechanical lock where you have lift the switch up and then move it, so it’s highly unlikely for switches like this to be inadvertently moved absent some mechanical failure,” said Jeff Guzzetti, the former director of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Accident Investigation Division.
It is also unusual that both switches inadvertently moved to the cutoff position “one right after another, one second apart,” Guzzetti added. Guzzetti did not rule out the possibility the switches may have been intentionally moved, citing the need to also investigate the pilots.
Hi Sidebar Moderator-
I had put this article in “Breaking News” because it shows that the 787 nor its engines were the cause of the recent Air India air disaster.
As many of us fly a lot, I figured it is good to know when one of the most-used airplanes for international flight has been found to be not at fault.
Can this at least be put into “Extended” news?
(I’ll bag on Boeing when they have it coming, but I’ll also make sure exculpatory news is posted, too.)
Just so everyone is aware, I’m not sure what Captain Steve said in his video, but the Dual Engine Failre Checklist on the Boeing 787 has memory items and the memory items are as follows:
FUEL CONTROL switches (both) .............. CUTOFF, then RUN
RAM AIR TURBINE switch .......................... Push and hold for 1 second
“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.
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
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.
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?
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.
Boeing’s fault!!! They should have made the airplane idiot proof.
/s
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.
Sounding like possible suicide. Take a look at their financial & health records.