Newly revealed cockpit audio from the Air India flight that crashed last month shows the first officer asking the captain why he turned off the plane’s fuel switches, cutting fuel to the engines, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
The first officer, Clive Kunder, was flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner during takeoff from Ahmedabad airport when the crash happened. The report says Kunder asked captain Sumeet Sabharwal why he had flipped the fuel-supply switches, starving both engines just moments after liftoff.
This detail comes days after the official preliminary crash report said the two pilots spoke briefly about the fuel switches but didn’t name who said what or share exact quotes.
Air India Flight 171 crashed less than a minute after takeoff, hitting a medical college near Ahmedabad. The crash killed 241 people on board and 19 on the ground. Only one passenger survived.
The preliminary report, released a month after the crash, has stirred controversy. The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) slammed it for trying to blame the pilots without solid proof. The FIP said the report “lacks comprehensive data” and “relies selectively on paraphrased cockpit voice recordings to suggest pilot error and question the professional competence and integrity of the flight crew.”
They warned: “Assigning blame before a thorough, transparent and data-driven investigation is both premature and irresponsible. Such speculative commentary undermines the professionalism of highly trained crew members and causes undue distress to their families and colleagues.”
US pilots who read the Indian investigation’s report said that Kunder, who was actively flying the plane, would have been busy controlling the aircraft during takeoff and unlikely to have moved the switches himself.
India’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the fuel switches were turned from “run” to “cutoff” one second apart just after takeoff. The report does not explain how or who did this.
CCTV footage shows the plane’s backup engine, called the RAM air turbine, activated right after liftoff, a sign the engines lost power.
The plane quickly lost thrust, reached about 650 feet, then started falling.
The fuel switches were eventually turned back on, and the plane’s systems tried to restart the engines, but it was too late.
This crash has reopened the debate on whether planes should have video cameras in cockpits. Pilots generally oppose this, citing privacy concerns.
Aviation safety expert John Nance said video footage could have helped investigators better understand what happened on that flight.
Supporters argue cockpit cameras would fill gaps left by audio and flight data. Critics worry about privacy and misuse of video recordings.
