Aviation Expert Calls Air India Crash Report Findings ‘Absolutely Bizarre’

A prominent aviation expert is describing as “bizarre” the chain of events now seen as being behind last month’s Air India crash which killed more than 240 people.The report, issued early Saturday by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, found that the fuel control switches on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had been shifted from the “run” to “cutoff” position during takeoff, leaving both engines starved of fuel.The pilots discovered the anomaly shortly after takeoff but too late to prevent the airliner from careening into a building in the city of Ahmedabad, the Indian analysts reported. The plane was in the air for only about 30 seconds.“Unfortunately, the altitude was so low that the engines were only beginning to recover and they didn’t have enough time,” aviation expert and former airline pilot Terry Tozer told Sky News.He said that for the engine fuel switches to be moved to off “only seconds after liftoff, is absolutely bizarre.”The Indian investigators also cited findings that chaos gripped the cockpit in the aircraft’s final seconds. As disaster loomed, one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder desperately asking the other why he cut off the fuel.“The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said, adding that one of the pilots had then transmitted “MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY.”It was not immediately clear how the switches were activated or whether there was an emergency that would have prompted an engine cutoff.The preliminary report stopped short of recommending any actions against Boeing. The company responded with a statement pledging that it “stands ready to support the investigation led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.”Pilot and aviation consultant Tim Atkinson told Sky News there are not many situations or circumstances that would explain why the fuel was cut off.“One would be an utterly extraordinary human error, an unintentional act, and the other – I’m very sorry to say – would be an intentional act,” he said. “And that’s not a suggestion or allegation, it’s simply an analysis of the small amount of information that we have at hand at this moment.”

Aviation Expert Calls Air India Crash Report Findings ‘Absolutely Bizarre’

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