The Air India aircraft crashed due to the engine valve being turned off
Last month, a preliminary report was released regarding the aviation disaster that occurred in India. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
As a result of this incident, 260 people lost their lives. According to the report prepared by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety under the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner belonging to Air India crashed a few minutes after taking off from Ahmedabad to London.
One of the causes of the disaster was identified as the simultaneous shutdown of the fuel valves intended for turning the engines on and off. This situation stopped the fuel supply to the engines, leading to the loss of control of the aircraft.
The report also includes conversations prior to the crash, in which one pilot asked another, "Why did you cut off the fuel?" and the second pilot denied it. However, it is unclear which pilot made these statements.
The captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, was 56 years old and had over 15,600 hours of flight experience and had become an instructor at Air India. The co-pilot, Kliv Kunder, was 32 years old and had flown for more than 3,400 hours.
Experts believe that the accidental shutdown of the fuel valves is nearly impossible. They are usually turned off when the aircraft lands or in an emergency, but it has been determined that such conditions did not occur during the disaster.
US aviation safety expert Antony Brikhaus emphasized that this situation could have been carried out consciously, posing the question, "If the pilot did this, why?" Interestingly, after the plane crashed, the fuel valves located at the rear were found to be in the on position, indicating that the engines were briefly restarted.
The disaster dealt a significant blow to Air India's recent efforts to modernize and restore confidence. The company, which was privatized by the Indian government in 2022 and transferred to Tata Group, was working on purchasing new aircraft, improving service quality, and enhancing safety.
Additionally, the aviation regulatory authorities of the European Union and India have also subjected Air India Express to a serious investigation. It is reported that some engine parts were not updated in time and documents were falsified.
So far, Boeing and GE Aerospace are not being blamed for this disaster. The US National Transportation Safety Board is continuing its investigation in collaboration with Indian officials.
