Featured Image Credit: (SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Topics: Air India, World News
Brenna Cooper
Topics: Air India, World News
A preliminary investigation into the cause of the horrifying Air India crash has revealed a chilling conversation between the aircraft's pilots.
Last month Air India Flight 171 crashed into a medical college just moments after departing from the western city of Ahmedabad, killing 260 people.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, bound for London, had been airborne for just 40 seconds before slamming into a dormitory owned by the city's BJ Medical College. 241 out of the 242 passengers and crew onboard the aircraft were killed in the accident, with a further 19 fatalities occurring on the ground.
Only one passenger - a man sat in seat 11A - would survive, with the man climbing out of the plane's emergency exit door moments after the crash.
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A preliminary investigation into the cause of the crash is currently underway - led by Indian authorities alongside experts from Boeing, Air India and Indian aviation regulators - with authorities revealing details from a sobering conversation which may explain the cause of the crash.
According to audio recovered from the cockpit voice recorder, the fuel control switches on the aircraft were turned to the 'cut-off' position moments after take-off, prompting one of the pilots to ask the other why he 'did the cut-off'. The other voice then replies that he hadn't cut the engines off.
It's unclear who said what, as the voices haven't been officially identified. However, a report from the BBC states that co-pilot Clive Kunder was piloting the aircraft during take-off while captain Sumeet Sabharwal was monitoring.
An aircraft's fuel control switches are responsible for regulating the amount of fuel passing through an aeroplane's engines.
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They are located below the thrusters in the cockpit and are designed to avoid being accidentally changed from the 'on' to the 'off' position.
Pilots will typically use the switches to shut down or turn on the engines before take-off/after landing, or in the event of engine failure.
"It would be almost impossible to pull both switches with a single movement of one hand, and this makes accidental deployment unlikely," an anonymous air accidents investigator explained to the BBC.
"The new details suggest someone in the cockpit shut those valves," added Peter Goelz.
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"The question is, who, and why? Both switches were turned off and then restarted within seconds. The voice recorder will reveal more: was the flying pilot trying to restart the engines or the monitoring one?"