CRASH investigators are said to be investigating the medical records of the doomed Air India flight Captain amid claims he suffered from mental health problems.
Preliminary report into the fatal crash found the plane’s fuel switches were cut off, which led to a catastrophic loss of thrust during the initial take-off.
Officials inspect the remains of the Air India passenger plane at the crash site near Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad[/caption]
One of the rear landing gears amid debris at the site of a plane crash[/caption]
The plane seconds before disaster[/caption]
The Air India flight bound to London Gatwick was led by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who was reportedly just months away from retirement.
But the pilot had been considering leaving the airlines early to look after his elderly father, The Telegraph revealed.
A leading aviation expert in India told the media outlet that Captain Sabharwal reportedly suffered from mental health issues and depression – and had taken time off in the last few years following his mum’s death.
Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a former instructor pilot of Boeing 737, said: “I have heard from several Air India pilots who told me he had some depression and mental health issues.
“He had taken time off from flying in the last three to four years.”
Although Mr Ranganathan added that Captain Sabharwal “must have been medically cleared by the company [Air India] doctors” before flying.
He is understood to have taken a Class I medical exam on September 5 last year.
Investigators are now said to be probing his medical records after the preliminary crash report indicated there may have been human error, although some aviation experts claim it is a case of deliberate action.
Sources said the black box analysis has so far been unable to rule out “improper, inadvertent or intentional” action that caused them to be flipped.
Families of the victims who tragically died in the crash have slammed the preliminary report as a cover-up.
They have dubbed the investigation “biased” and said it only appears to “blame the dead pilots”.
The Airline Pilots’ Association of India (APAI) rejected the “tone and direction” of the inquiry and said it came without sufficient evidence.
However, India’s Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said that investigators probed in a “mature, transparent” way.
“This is a preliminary report. We want the final report to come in, so let us wait for it,” he added.
Early findings in the 15-page report released by the Indian authorities indicate switches to the engines’ fuel supplies were moved from the “RUN” position to “CUTOFF”.
The fuel switches were then toggled to the “RUN” position, and the engines appeared to be gathering power, but failed to stop the plane from decelerating.
Key findings of the report:
- Dual engine shutdown – fuel cutoff switches moved from ‘RUN’ to ‘CUTOFF’
- Confusion between pilots – cockpit audio confirms one pilot asked ‘why did you cutoff’, the other replied ‘I didn’t’
- RAT deployed – as seen in CCTV footage before the crash
- Engine relight attempted – fuel switches were found returned to the “RUN” at crash site
- 32 seconds – the time the aircraft was airborne before it crashed
- Thrust levers mismatch – Thrust levers found at idle but black box data shows takeoff thrust was still engaged
- Fuel test pass – fuel was clean without any contamination
- Normal take-off set-up – Flaps and landing gear correctly configured
- No bird activity – clear skies, good visibility, light winds
- Pilot credentials clear – both medically fit and rested
- No sabotage detected – although FAA alerted over a known fuel switch vulnerability not checked by Air India
- Aircraft loading – the flight was within weight and balance limits
Analysis of the cockpit voice recording revealed that one of the pilots asked: “Why did you cut off?”
To which the other pilot replied: “I didn’t.”
Though the report does not identify which comments were made by the flight’s captain and which were made by the first officer.
Nor does it “identify the cause – whether it was crew error, mechanical malfunction, or electronic failure.”
Flipping the switches to cut off almost immediately cuts the fuel supply to the engines.
It is most often used to turn engines off once a plane has arrived at its airport gate and in certain emergency situations, such as an engine fire.
But the inconclusive report, which came after 30 days of the crash, does not indicate that the flight encountered any such emergency situation.
A cockpit view of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft shows the fuel switch; Annotations by The Sun Graphics[/caption]
Clive Kunder was the co-pilot on the doomed fligh[/caption]
It is almost impossible to turn the switches off accidentally – they must be pulled up and locked before flipping – a safety design feature that was introduced decades ago.
Protective guards are further installed to minimise the risks – raising further questions as to why the fuel switches in the Air India flight were turned off.
The report points out that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2018 issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) – highlighting that a few Boeing 737 fuel control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged.
But it was not deemed unsafe, and no Airworthiness Directive (AD) – a legally enforceable regulation to correct unsafe conditions in a product – was issued.
A similar switch design is used in Boeing 787-8 aircraft, including Air India’s VT-ANB Dreamliner in question.
The FAA and Boeing have now privately issued notifications that the fuel switch locks on Boeing planes are safe, according to four sources and a document seen by Reuters.
The report said Air India had said it had not carried out the FAA’s suggested inspections, as the FAA 2018 advisory was not a legal mandate.
But it also said maintenance records showed that the throttle control module, which includes the fuel switches, was replaced in 2019 and 2023 on the plane involved in the crash.
Experts have said a pilot would not be able to accidentally move the fuel switches.
“If they were moved because of a pilot, why?” asked U.S. aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 242 passengers on board – including 53 Brits – smashed into a doctors’ hostel in Ahmedabad in the west of India.
The plane was headed to London Gatwick when it crashed just seconds after take-off, killing all but one passenger.
Landing gear of the Air India plane crashed directly on the BJ Medical College UG hostel mess[/caption]
Vishwash Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India crash, poses for the first time since the disaster[/caption]
