Preliminary report says fuel switches were cut off before Air India Boeing 787 crash

A pair of switches that control the fuel supply to the engines were set to “cutoff” moments before the crash of Air India Flight 171, according to a preliminary report from India’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau released early Saturday in India.

A total of 260 people were killed when the Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after it took off from Ahmedabad last month.

Indian investigators determined the jet was properly configured and lifted off normally. But three seconds after takeoff, the engines’ fuel switches were cut off. It’s not clear why.

According to the report, data from the flight recorders show that the two fuel control switches were switched from the “run” position to “cutoff” shortly after takeoff. In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots can be heard asking the other “why did he cutoff,” the report says, while “the other pilot responded that he did not do so.”

Moments later, the report says, the fuel switches were returned to the “run” position. But by then, the plane had begun to lose thrust and altitude. Both the engines appeared to relight, according to investigators, but only one of them was able to begin generating thrust.

The report does not draw any further conclusions about why the switches were flipped, but it does suggest that investigators are focused on the actions of the plane’s pilots. The report does not present any evidence of mechanical failures or of a possible bird strike, which could have incapacitated both engines at the same time.

The first officer was the pilot flying at the time of the crash, according to investigators. The report suggests that there was nothing out of the ordinary about its takeoff — until the fuel control switches were flipped off.

There were 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound flight when it crashed into a medical college and burst into flames. Only one passenger — sitting in seat 11A — was able to walk away from the burning rubble. Nineteen people died on the ground.

This was the first ever hull loss of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which entered service in 2011.