A preliminary report on her crash that claimed the lives of 260 people last month showed that three seconds after take -off, the aircraft’s fuel fuel power switches moved almost simultaneously from the operation to the interruption position, depriving them of the engine.
The 787 Dreamliner immediately began to lose a boost and sink, according to Indian air accident researchers. The pilot’s voice recorder sounds a pilot asking the other why he cut the fuel.
“The other pilot replied that he didn’t,” the report said. It does not specify what observations were made by the commander of the flight and which of the first officer, nor which pilot conveyed “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” shortly before the crash.
The big question
The preliminary report also does not mention how the switch was able to move to the power supply position on the June 12th flight from the Indian city of Ahmedabad to London.
US Air Force Safety Experts John Cox said a pilot could not accidentally move fuel power switches that supply the engines. “You can’t hit them and move,” he said.
Activating the Cutoff mode interrupts the engine operation almost immediately. It is commonly used to turn off engines when the aircraft arrives at the airport gate and in some emergency situations, such as a fire on the engine. The report does not state that there was some emergency situation that required the engine shutdown.
“At this stage of the research, there are no proposed actions for Boeing 787-8 and/or Ge.N, open a new Genx-1B tab operators and engine manufacturers”said the India Air Accident Investigation Office.
