Electrical malfunction could have led to fuel switch cut off before AI plane crash: Expert

New Delhi | An electrical malfunction could have led to the fuel switches moving to the cut off position without the pilots knowing about it before Air India's Boeing 787-8 plane crashed last month, aviation expert Captain (Retd) Ehsan Khalid said on Wednesday.

On Saturday, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), in its preliminary report on the Air India's Boeing 787-8 accident that killed 260 people on June 12, said the fuel switches to the engines of the aircraft were cut off within a gap of 1 second immediately after takeoff and caused confusion in the cockpit before the plane crashed into a building.

While the initial report does not provide any conclusions, there are speculations in certain quarters that a possible pilot error could be a reason for the crash.

In an interview to PTI Videos, Khalid, an Air Force veteran, also said the entire cockpit voice recording could have been made public by the AAIB and if that was released, "these speculations or insinuations or smear campaign would not have been there because a pilot, as a community, feels that they are the goalkeeper of flight safety".

He also said the AAIB report has given rise to more speculations, which were not there before.

Citing cockpit voice recording, the 15-page preliminary report said one pilot asked why the switch was cut off, and the other pilot responded that he did not do so. The AI 171 flight, operated with the Boeing 787-8 aircraft, was flying from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick.

According to Khalid, an electrical malfunction could also have resulted in the aircraft's fuel switches being cut off soon after takeoff.

"While it is also true that the switch may be in one position and that position may be 1 and the second position is 0 in electrical terms... (then) 0 to 1 or 1 to 0 (position) could have transitioned because of an electrical malfunction or a signal malfunction while the switch could be at the same point.

"That is why I think AAIB, in their own judgment, were very careful in not using the word that fuel switches were moved. They could have used it. It is not that they do not know about it," he said.

The AAIB report also mentioned that when the fuel switch is moved from cutoff to run, the start sequence starts. "So, they know this word to be used, but they did not use it. And I think very rightly with abundant caution, they did not use this because there is still a possibility that an electrical signal (malfunction) could have caused this (crash)," Khalid said.

Various pilot associations have raised concerns about the AAIB report and have urged all parties to refrain from speculations.

AI finds no issues with locking mechanism of fuel control switch in B787 planes: Official

New Delhi | Air India on Wednesday completed the inspection of the locking mechanism of fuel control switches in its Boeing 787 planes and did not find any issues, according to an airline official.

On Monday, aviation watchdog DGCA directed airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes against the backdrop of AAIB's preliminary report stating that fuel switches were cut off before the Air India plane crash that killed 260 people last month.

"Over the weekend, our Engineering team initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all our Boeing 787 aircraft. The inspections have been completed and no issues were found," the official said, quoting an internal message sent to Air India pilots.

The official also said that all the Boeing 787-8 aircraft have undergone Throttle Control Module (TCM) replacement as per the Boeing maintenance schedule. FCS is part of this module.

FCS regulate the flow of fuel into the aircraft engines. In its preliminary report on the Boeing 787-8 crash released on Saturday, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the fuel supply to both engines of the plane was cut off within a gap of one second, causing confusion in the cockpit soon after take off.

A 15-page preliminary investigation report into the Air India plane crash revealed fuel-control switches of the two engines moved from the "run" to the "cutoff" position, within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude.

"In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off? The other pilot responded that he did not do so," the report said.

AAIB, which mentioned about FAA's SAIB in the report, did not suggest any recommended action.

The airline has also asked pilots to remain vigilant and report any defect in the technical log, as per the existing reporting process, the official added.