(Adnkronos) – The switches controlling the fuel flow to the two engines of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which crashed in June, were off. Therefore, someone inside the cockpit, perhaps a pilot, would have turned them off, causing a loss of thrust immediately after takeoff that led to the crash and the death of 260 people, except for one survivor. These are the preliminary results of the investigation conducted by the US authorities, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing exclusive well-informed sources. The aircraft itself, therefore, had no malfunction problems, and investigators are now trying to understand whether the switches were turned off accidentally or intentionally and whether a reset was attempted to manage an emergency.
The switches are normally on during flight, and it is unclear how or why they were turned off, sources told the Wall Street Journal. In any case, turning off the switches may explain why the jet’s emergency generator, known as the ram air turbine (Rat), activated moments before the plane crashed near a medical student hostel. A preliminary report from the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which is conducting the inquiry, is expected shortly.
The pilots flying the Boeing, both deceased, were Sumeet Sabharwal, the flight commander who had accumulated over 10,000 flight hours, and his co-pilot Clive Kunder had over 3,400 hours of experience, Air India said. The accident was the first fatal one involving Boeing’s Dreamliner.
