PBS
Fuel control switches for the engines of an Air India flight that crashed last month were moved from the “run” to the “cutoff” position moments before impact, starving both engines of fuel, a preliminary investigation report said early Saturday.
The report, issued by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, also indicated that both pilots were confused over the change to the switch setting, which caused a loss of engine thrust shortly after takeoff. More
If there ever was a switch that needed a safety latch over it, then that is it.
The fuel switches have all the safeties.
Pick the cause:
1. There was a ghost in the cockpit and it turned the switches off.
2. UFO Aliens beamed a force field into the cockpit which turned the fuel off.
3. Probability says there’s a non-zero chance that BOTH switches flipped themselves off.
4. The switches just wanted to be off. Get over it.
5. Pilot or copilot suicide.
A more sinister take on the cause.
https://youtu.be/MD64uYK926o?si=iat6xHObACTG6e58
PBS(Pablum&BullShit):
No, it didn’t. It’s PBS who’s confused.
What the report DID say is that shortly after the switches were turned off, one of the crew (and the report didn’t say which one), asked the other why he shut off the fuel (the Q). The other one said that he hadn’t (the A).
That can be interpreted more than one way, and that’s why PBS fails to understand.
If the Q was legitimate, then the questioner wasn’t the one who hit the switches. The answerer then was lying because the switch setup makes it impossible to move them unintentionally. The answerer is a suicidal mass murderer.
If the Q was posed by the one who switched off the fuel, then it was a deception/distraction probably to cause a delay in turning them back on. The questioner is a suicidal mass murderer.
The delay in turning the fuel back on IMO is most likely because the murderer and the innocent were struggling over the switches.
The information in the report may be deliberately incomplete because when there is a criminal investigation parallel to the crash investigation, evidential information is kept confidential.
I boarded a South Western plane in Texas in the 70s and on the boarding ramp was a large wheeled tool chest and the cabin was dead stone quiet, no noise other than people talking. An access panel in the rear of the cabin had been opened and men inside could clearly be heard to say “do we turn it left or do we turn it right?” talking, I thought at the time, on a radio to someone off the plane. Many passengers requested to exit the plane and did so. Some also wanted to talk to the pilot. A few of us, me included, stuck it out. During, the trip back to NY there was a strange vibration that could be felt throughout the plane. We get just so many hours of luck in life, I’ve used mine all up a long while ago, afew where included in this flight no doubt. USAF Vet
The Smithsonian Channel has a series called AIR DISASTERS which shows what is involved with air crash investigations from the NTSB and other like foreign agencies. Watch a few episodes of that and you would be less likely to board a passenger air carrier, and maybe consider a train if you have the time.
@Doc — Does the Smithsonian Channel also cover passenger train wrecks? 😬😬😬
Doc – “Ridin that train…high on cocaine…Casey Jones you better watch your speed…” Personally I’d drive and generally do.
It seems the most common failure during takeoff is the plane isn’t configure properly especially FLAP SETTINGS!
Two things that NEVER happen by accident
1. Pilot turns off fuel to the engines
2. Tell George Steppopotomus “my MUSLIM faith”.
@Doc — The report did state that the plane’s flaps were set to 5% which was correct for conditions. You’re right about flaps settings, but it seems they weren’t a factor here.
Much, much more info will come out way down the road. I’ll try to remain interested and curious.
5%? 5°? I get confused sometimes.
@Doc
I never miss an episode
I decided I would never fly again long before that show
MrLiberty, I hear ya! The last time I flew commercial was 2004 from Sacramento to Grand Rapids for my Father In Law’s funeral. I couldn’t pass the mag gate and had to get the hand wand treatment. Just about the time the inspector was ready to make me strip, he asked what I had that would set off the wand. I told him I was smuggling war souvenirs I had picked up in Vietnam in 1968 in my back and legs. He apologized and thanked me for my service, turned out he was a Viet Vet Marine.
Since 2004 I’ve always had a motorhome so If I can’t drive there, I ain’t goin!
I flew Pan Am right before its last days and those things were a wreck, but the most entertainment was when I few Leo Lopez Airlines in Mexico (many times). Aborted take off due to weight, (solution was to do a 2nd attempt) stall horns going off on every take off, cockpit door flapping back and forth and coming into El Passo with the winds swinging back and forth, go around and try again usually got it.
Oh yeah – and the half-cheek sets were a real treat!
and I’m not a big guy.
The “Religion Of Peace” strikes again.
“The best suicide is the one where there is the ultimate thrill of going there to your end…CRASH!…and never feeling it.” anon.
‘other words…play stupid games…get stupid prizes. The passengers and their relatives will be seeing YOU later, pot shot!
I smell curry – and I also smell a gay hissy fit turned to suicide.
They still haven’t tried to identify who asked the question, and who answered. And of course, it actually doesn’t matter for us here amongst the living, as the suicidal/homicidal (co-)pilot asking could be guilty, and throwing a deception in the CVR. It’s for God almighty to judge. His will be done.
The data recorder shows they were both flipped at a roughly a 1 second interval one after the other. That indicates intent, and likely rules out the 2018 service bulletin on 787 switches that had malfunctioning safety locking. The data also shows them being turned back on sequentially, and one engine spooling up enough to make a little thrust and the other was starting to come back too, but it was too late.
I’m going to guess they roll out a software fix along the lines of: Have the ECAR lock out fuel cutoff from transition from ground (weight on gear indicated) to air logic and 600 feet or 200 knots, which ever comes first. That makes the “unable to shutdown” window small enough that only something truly weird can cause a problem. And those kind of events are usually not halted by cutting off fuel to the engines. It also prevents the “wrong engine shutdown” in the critical window.
KR
Interesting timing: https://iotwreport.com/india-removes-over-three-thousand-loudspeakers-from-places-of-worship/
Happened before. EgyptAir Flight 990 as well as (probably) MH370.
Either the person who did this was TERMINALLY STUPID…and took a lot of people with them. OR they were muslim.
Blancolirio did an excellent video on the preliminary report.
https://youtu.be/wA_UZeHZwSw?si=fxxovWW73HAKf1pM
Hmmmm…Are there any historical examples of someone deliberately crashing a loaded plane into, say, a building?
Is there any known ideology which not only allows but encourages suicide and mass killing?
There wasn’t some mention of Aloha Snackbar on the flight recorder, was there?
Look up EgyptAir 990.
The Egyptian government tried to move heaven and earth to make it not be the pilot’s deliberate action.
But the panel was recovered with the fuel cutoff switches in the “Off” position.