- Cockpit voice recording suggests captain turned off fuel switches to both engines
- First officer questioned captain after fuel switches moved to “cutoff” position
- Both fuel control switches moved from ‘RUN’ to ‘CUTOFF’ seconds after take-off
A cockpit voice recording from the Air India Dreamliner that crashed after take-off in Ahmedabad suggests the captain turned off fuel switches to both engines, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with an early U.S. assessment of the black-box data.
The first officer, who was flying the Boeing 787-8, questioned the captain after he moved the switches to the “cutoff” position, the journal reported on Thursday. The first officer reportedly expressed surprise and panicked, while the captain remained calm, the report said. These details, attributed to individuals familiar with the US review of cockpit recordings, point to the captain as the one who cut the fuel supply.
This journal report goes beyond the preliminary findings released by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau last week. That 15-page report confirmed that both fuel control switches moved from ‘RUN' to ‘CUTOFF' seconds after take-off on June 12, causing both engines to lose thrust.
The cockpit voice recording captured one pilot asking, “Why did you cut off?” and the other replying, “I didn't.” The AAIB did not identify which pilot said what and stated that neither acknowledged operating the switches.
The details in the AAIB's report also suggest the captain was responsible, The WSJ report, citing US pilots and aviation safety experts reviewing the Indian findings, said. The captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, was a decadeslong veteran, while the first officer, Clive Kunder, was in his early 30s and flying the aircraft at the time.
Pilots cited in the report said Sabharwal, as the monitoring pilot, would have been more likely to operate the switches, while Kunder would have had his hands full managing the climb-out.
Air India did not immediately respond to NDTV Profit at the time of publishing the story. However, the carrier had previously said on other news reports that they cannot comment on investigation.
The Boeing 787-8, operated by Air India, crashed 32 seconds after take-off from Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 people on the ground. The investigation remains ongoing.
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