Air India flight crash: Preliminary report being analysed, says Naidu
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said that the Air India flight crash report is preliminary and the final report is awaited
Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Saturday (July 12) said that the Air India flight crash report was a preliminary one and the Civil Aviation Ministry was analysing it.
Speaking to reporters in Vizag, the Civil Aviation Minister said, “We are coordinating with AIBB for any support they need. We are hoping that the final reports come out soon so that we can arrive at some conclusion."
"I truly believe we have the most wonderful workforce in terms of pilots and the crew in the whole world. Pilots and crew are the backbone of the aviation industry,” he added as quoted by ANI.
Fuel control switches cut off
His comments come hours after the preliminary investigation report revealed that a fuel control switch shift three seconds after take-off resulted in a dual engine failure that led to the deadly Air India flight crash on June 12 in Ahmedabad.
The report stated that seconds after take-off, both switches ensuring fuel supply to the two engines of the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft were turned off, resulting in the crash.
The report further reveals that one pilot asked the other why he had cut off the fuel, to which the other responded that he had not done it.
Also Read: Ahmedabad Air India plane crash: A timeline of events
No action against Dreamliner operators
However, the report did not recommend any action against the operators of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.
"The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC (13.38 IST) and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec," stated the report as quoted by PTI.
As per the report, the engines N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off.
"In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he cut off. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," it said.
Almost immediately after the plane lifted off the ground, CCTV footage shows a backup energy source called ram air turbine (RAT) had deployed, indicating a loss of power from the engines.
(With agency inputs)