A cockpit recording of the conversation between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month has revealed a potential cause that will leave you speechless.
The recording indicates that the captain turned off the fuel switches to the plane’s engines, which led to the devastating crash that killed 260 people.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the first officer, who was flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, asked the more experienced captain why he moved the switches to the “cutoff” position after takeoff.
Panic in the Cockpit
The first officer expressed surprise and panic, while the captain remained calm, according to the report.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Boeing, and Air India did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.
The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3403 hours, respectively.
Preliminary Report Raises New Questions
A preliminary report released last week by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before the June 12 crash and raised fresh questions over the position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches.