Speculative & premature: Media reports 'blaming' pilot for Air India plane crash slammed by US transport safety body
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Speculative & premature: Media reports 'blaming' pilot for Air India plane crash slammed by US transport safety body")
Ahmedabad Air India plane crash
The investigation into the Air India plane crash is being jointly carried out by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and NTSB.
The head of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) warned against jumping to conclusions in the June 12 Air India Flight 171 crash investigation. The plane crash in India's Ahmedabad claimed 260 lives. The caution warning comes amid media reports about the senior pilot cutting off fuel switches of both engines.
“Recent media reports on the Air India 171 crash are premature and speculative. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau just released its preliminary report. Investigations of this magnitude take time. We fully support the AAIB’s public appeal, which was released Thursday, and will continue to support its ongoing investigation. All investigative questions should be addressed to the AAIB, said NTSB in a statement.
The investigation into the Air India plane crash is being jointly carried out by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and NTSB.
Last week, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released its preliminary investigation report that pointed towards confusion in the cockpit shortly before the June 12 crash. Most importantly the report said that the two fuel control switches aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were moved to the "cutoff" position just before the takeoff, cutting fuel to the engines.
The switches were, however, restored about 10 seconds later, but till then the aircraft had lost thrust, leading to the crash.
The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively.
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According to AAIB's preliminary report, First Officer Clive Kunder is heard asking Captain Sumeet Sabharwal why did he cutoff in the cockpit voice recording. Sabharwal responded by saying he did not do so.
After the incident, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had asked all airlines operating Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft to examine the fuel switch locking systems. Air India completed the precautionary inspection of the locking mechanism of fuel control switches (FCS) on all the Boeing 787 aircraft in its fleet and found no problems.
