Based on Prelim Report, DGCA must order grounding of all Boeing 787 being operated by Indian Companies, till cleared
It seems, using half truths from excerpts of Preliminary Investigation Report, a narrative is being built to place the blame for the tragic crash entirely on the pilots.
The pilots are dead and in no way can defend themselves. The company which manufactures the dream airliner will get totally absolved.
The excerpt from the Prelim Report says that “ Fuel control switches for the engines of an Air India flight that crashed last month were moved from the “run” to the “cut off” position moments before impact, starving both engines of fuel, a preliminary investigation report said early Saturday.
The media insinuates, that the report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, has indicated that both pilots were “confused “ over the change to the switch setting, which caused a loss of engine thrust shortly after take-off.
The Air India flight — a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — crashed on June 12 and killed at least 260 people, including 19 on the ground, in the north-western city of Ahmedabad. Only one passenger survived the crash, which is one of India’s worst aviation disasters.
The plane was carrying 230 passengers — 169 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian — along with 12 crew members.
According to the report, the flight lasted around 30 seconds between take-off and crash. It said that once the aircraft achieved its top recorded speed, “the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cut-off switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another” within ONE SECOND.
The excerpt fails to explain how the switches could have flipped to the cut-off position during the flight as the voice recorders indicates that neither of the pilot had made this.
The movement of the fuel control switches allow and cut fuel flow to the plane’s engines. However the controls can only be moved manually by a deliberate action only. Moving both will take 8 to 10 seconds the fastest and CAN NOT be done in just 1 second !!!
The switches were flipped back into the run position, the report said, but the plane could not gain power quickly enough to stop its descent after the aircraft had begun to lose altitude.
“One of the pilots transmitted “‘MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY’,” the report said. This means, pilots were in full senses.
Insinuation is “It also indicated confusion in the cockpit moments before the crash”…….There was no confusion except may be panic in the voice, visualizing the imminent crash.
In the flight’s final moment, one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said.
The preliminary report makes no recommendations and as such has not recommend any actions. Air India in a statement said it is fully cooperating with authorities investigating the crash.
“Air India is working closely with stakeholders, including regulators. We continue to fully cooperate with the AAIB and other authorities as their investigation progresses,” it said.
The plane’s black boxes — combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders — were recovered in the days following the crash and later downloaded in most competent manner in India itself ….though Boeing must be wanting them badly.
DGCA till now has not ordered the grounding of the entire fleet of Boeing 787 operated by Indian companies but have just ordered deeper checks of Air India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner to prevent future incidents. Air India has 33 Dreamliner’s in its fleet.
