&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Air India plane crash: US aviation body denies fuel control unit mechanical issue in Boeing plane")
The head of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Thursday (July 24) said that the Air India Flight 171 crash on June 12 in which 260 people lost their lives, including 19 on ground, was not due to a mechanical issue or inadvertent movement of the fuel control unit or switches. The statement comes after it came to light that the fuel switches of both engines were moved to the "cutoff" position just before the takeoff.
"We can say with a high level of confidence is it doesn't appear to be a mechanical issue with the Boeing fuel control unit," Bryan Bedford, the FAA's administrator, told reporters on the sidelines of an air show in Wisconsin.
"We feel very comfortable that this isn't an issue with inadvertent manipulation of fuel control," he added, as reported by news agency Reuters.
The investigation into the Air India plane crash is being jointly carried out by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and NTSB.
confusion in cockpit over fuel switches
A few days earlier, 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.
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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.
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.
