Fuel switches cut off before Air India crash, preliminary report says
Summary
- The preliminary report into the Air India crash last month has been released - and casts attention on the actions of the pilots
- Both fuel control switches - which are used to turn the engines off - were moved to the cut-off position, the report says
- It says that in the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he "did the cut-off". The other pilot, it says, responded that he did not do so
- It is not specified which voice is which. At the time the aircraft took off, the co-pilot was flying the plane, while the captain was monitoring
- At least 260 people were killed in the crash, the sole survivor - British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh - escaped the wreckage through an opening in the fuselage
Live Reporting
Edited by Nathan Williams and Johanna Chisholm
What else does the report say?published at 22:37
22:37
In its 15-page report, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) says the wreckage site activities, including drone photography and videography, have been completed.
The wreckage itself has been moved to a secure area near the airport.
"Both engines were retrieved from the wreckage site and quarantined at a hangar in the airport," the report said.
"Components of interest for further examinations have been identified and quarantined," the report added.
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 Report does not draw conclusions - but details provided on pilots' actionspublished at 22:30
22:30
 Theo Leggett
BBC International Business Correspondent
The preliminary report from India’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau into the loss of Air India flight 171, which killed 260 people, has cast attention firmly on the actions of the pilots.
As we just reported, the report says that according to data from the flight recorder both the fuel control switches, which are normally used to switch the engines on or off when on the ground, were moved from the run to the cutoff position shortly after takeoff.
This caused both engines to lose thrust.
It says that in the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he “did the cutoff”. The other pilot, it says, responded that he did not do so.
It is not specified which voice is which. At the time the aircraft took off, the co-pilot was flying the plane, while the captain was monitoring.
The switches were then moved back into their normal inflight position, something which would automatically start the process of relighting the engines.
One engine, according to the report, was in the process of regaining thrust at the time the aircraft crashed. The other was relit but was not yet regaining thrust.
The report says: "At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to B787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers, suggesting that no significant fault has been found with the plane or its engines."
The report does not draw any conclusions, and points out that the investigation is continuing, but it is clear attention is now being focused on the actions of the pilots.
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'Why did you cut off?' pilot heard in voice recording of cockpitpublished at 22:24
22:24Breaking
One of the findings from the report outlines how a pilot could be heard asking the other pilot in a voice recording of the cockpit in the moments before the crash: why did you cut off?
The report says that both engine fuel cut off switches were turned to "cut-off" with a time delay.
Below is an excerpt of that finding from the preliminary report:
"The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec.
"The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cutoff.
"In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so."
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