AAIB’s preliminary probe into the June 12 Ahmedabad plane crash reveals both engines’ fuel switches were cut off seconds after takeoff. The Boeing 787-8’s cockpit design prevents accidental switch-offs, raising questions about pilot error. A veteran pilot explains the fuel system and why the delayed reaction came too late to save the aircraft.
Crashed Air India Plane. Image/File Pic
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has released its preliminary probe report on the fatal Ahmedabad plane crash. The preliminary report launched by AAIB has put the spotlight on the fuel switches of the crashed Boeing 787-8 and the confusion between the two pilots over the switches being cut off.
With the reports suggesting technical aspects of the aircraft, here is an explainer that will help you understand all the terminologies and will also let you know what exactly caused the Ahmedabad plane crash on June 12, 2025.
To start off with fuel switches, are switches inside the cockpit that regulate the flow of fuel into an aircraft's engines. The switch basically has two positions—'RUN' and 'CUT OFF'—and is used to start or shut down engines.
As reported by PTI, according to a veteran pilot, the position of a fuel switch cannot be changed accidentally, and there is a procedure in place. This indicates that the pilot who was flying the aircraft must have intentionally moved the switch from one position to another.
The fuel switches are generally guarded with brackets so that no accidental movements can take place. Moreover, the switches also have to be first pulled up before changing their position, the veteran pilot said, as cited by news agency PTI.
Talking about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the fuel switches of these specific aircraft are generally located under the thrust levers. The plane that crashed at Ahmedabad on June 12 was also a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
In the case of the ill-fated AI 171 flight, the fuel switches to the two engines of the aircraft were cut off within a gap of one second, and later, they were switched on, the report by AAIB says.
The veteran pilot, while explaining more about the technical aspect of an aircraft, said that "the thrust lever is like a car accelerator pedal; the more you open it, the more power you get, and the less you open it, the less power you get. There are two extreme positions—one is idle power, and one is full power. Then there is a fuel control switch, which has got two positions—cut off and run. So when you shut down the engine or the engine is not running, the fuel control switch is in cutoff mode, and fuel is being fed into the engine," as cited by PTI.
Now when the engine starts, it is a two-step procedure where the start selector is put on and then fuel control is put to run mode, as per the veteran pilot.
He further explained that "then automatically a lot of things happen inside. The engine starting to run means fuel is being fed into the engine. And the thrust lever is at idle, and the engine starts running at idle. Now this movement of the fuel control from cut off to run has an electronic gate because of which you have to deliberately pull the switch out and put it to run or pull it out and put it to cut off. That's a safety feature."
"Now what has happened is after rotation, normally the moment the aircraft lifts off from the ground, there is an air-ground sensor in the tyre that senses and lets the aircraft system know, 'Now I am in the air,' or 'Now I am on the ground.' So the moment it senses in the air and we see it on our instrument that the aircraft is in a positive climb, which is the first step, the pilot flying should say, Gear up,” the veteran pilot asserted.
"So what I see here is that neither the transcript has mentioned nor anybody is talking about whether the pilots call positive climb gear up or not. Why is the gear lever still down? What may have happened is at the point of wanting to gear up...for both engines, either deliberately or inadvertently, the switches were put off. So everyone forgot about the gear," he explained, as per news agency PTI.
"And then one of the pilots asked why you put it off, and either he, the one who noticed it, or the pilot who cut it off realised, 'Oh, what have I done?' and they put it back to run, but it was too late," the pilot concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)
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