Ahmedabad plane crash: US probe agency claims media reports as 'premature, speculative'

New Delhi: Amid ongoing controversies over the causes of fatal Air India crash that claimed 260 lives, US National Transportation Safety Board(NTSB) stated the latest reports by global media houses as premature and speculative. According to the preliminary report submitted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau(AAIB), the fuel was cut-off mid-flight by one of the pilots on June 12. 

Based on the primary evidence, the media agencies reported that the plane crash might have taken place due to an error or confusion in the cockpit, according to the NTSB head. She further added that these kinds of critical investigations take a considerable amount of time, adding that the probe may take a year or more to be ended.

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Scare prompts Air India to reinspect fuel control switches on Boeing 787s

The AAIB, while conducting investigations, found a voice recording of the cockpit, where one of the pilots Clive Kunder, allegedly asked a question to his co-pilot Sumeet Sabharwal. The captain asked Sumeet the reason for switching off the fuel. Sumeet reportedly denied Kunder's allegations, according to a Bloomberg report.

 The two fuel control switches on the Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner were moved to a "cutoff" position immediately after the aircraft lifted off, shutting the fuel engines for a few seconds. Even as the move was reversed within 10 seconds, it was too late to avert the crash, NDTV reported. Investigations of this magnitude take time," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said Friday, posted on social media platform X.  According to the investigators, the two key aspects of the inquiry are how and why the fuel switches were being turned off. They are also probing whether the act was intentional or an accidental move. 

After AAIB's preliminary report, India's civil authorities ordered a thorough probe of fuel switches on Boeing 737 and 787 aircraft operating in the country in an effort to ascertain whether the crash was caused by equipment failure.  

So far, the Aviation Ministry haven't identified any mechanical or design issues with the Boeing plane or the engines, manufactured by GE Aerospace.

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Meanwhile, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) President, Captain CS Randhawa, had accused the Reuters and Wall Street Journal of not publishing their reports on factual grounds while mentioning about  AAIB's preliminary report on AI-171 plane crash.

Consequently, CS Randhawa has sent a legal notice to the respective media houses asking them to issue a statement in the press, justifying their flawed reportage of the AAIB preliminary reports.