The pilot's panic: "Why did you turn off the fuel?

Air India

New theory: Air India captain singled out

Benjamin Ekroth

Published 00.30

The investigation into the Air India crash is now focusing on the actions of the captain.

Analysis of the conversation between the pilots in the cockpit indicates that he turned off the fuel flow to the plane's engines, writes the Wall Street Journal.

The Air India plane en route to London crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad on June 12. There were 242 people on board the plane, all but one of whom died. Another 19 people on the ground died when the plane crashed into a residential area.

Last week, a first preliminary a first preliminary report on the accident was published, indicating that the fuel supply to both engines had stopped one second apart, shortly after takeoff.

"The engines' N1 and N2 values began to decrease from their starting values when the fuel supply to the engines was shut down,” the report says.

 

A crane lifts the tail section of the Air India plane. Photo: Ajit Solanki/AP

“Why did you shut down?”

The error is said to have created confusion in the cockpit. In the recording from the so-called black box, one pilot can be heard asking “Why did you shut down the fuel?” The other pilot then replies “I didn’t.”

Now comes new information from the new inrmation from Wall Street Journal Wall  specifies which of the pilots is said to have said what. According to the newspaper, it was the younger co-pilot who asked the captain why he had shut off the plane's fuel supply. The co-pilot is also said to have shown signs of panic, while the captain remained calm.

American aviation experts also say that it was the co-pilot who held the levers during takeoff and was therefore busy with it. The captain had his hands free to do other things and therefore may have had the opportunity to cut off the fuel supply.

 

The plane crash is one of the deadliest ever. Photo: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

The union: "Hasty and irresponsible"

However, the Wall Street Journal writes that there is no concrete evidence, apart from the audio recording from the cockpit, that the captain deliberately shut off the fuel supply.

But investigators are now focusing on the captain's behavior, writes Daily Mail. It has been previously known that the 56-year-old captain's medical records were reviewed and that he was not far from retirement.

The Indian pilots' union FIP is critical of the incomplete accident investigation, which at an early stage suggests that the crash was caused by the pilots:

"Placing blame on anyone before a thorough and transparent investigation has been conducted is both hasty and irresponsible. Such speculative comments undermine the professionalism of well-trained crew members and cause unnecessary anxiety for their families and colleagues," they said in a statement according to the Brittish Independent.

 

Firefighters work at the scene of the crash. 241 of the 242 on board are feared dead. Photo: Ajit Solanki/AP