To turn off the engines of the Air India flight AI171 Just 3 seconds after take -off from Ahmedabad airport would have been the commander of the plane Sumet Sabharwal: to reveal it is the Wall Street Journalciting US officials aware of the content of the black box audio files. According to reports from the newspaper, the material recorded by black box it would also have been heard by Jennifer Homendyat the head of the ERSB, or the American investigative body that investigates accidents in transport.
Specifically, on June 12th at 08:08:42 (3 seconds after take -off), the commander would have interrupted the fuel flow before engine 1 (the one of the left) and then engine 2 (the one on the right).
The Preliminary report Published last week from the AIB he had already confirmed that immediately after taking off the switches for valves who regulate the fuel flow had been moved from the mode Run (fuel flow) to that Cutoff (interrupted flow).
In the document, moreover, it had already been reported as one of the two pilots (without specifying who) he had asked the other to have turned off the switches, a question to which he had been answered who had not done so: the exact dynamics of the facts, however, had not been clarified, raising doubts about the possible presence of a Third person in the pilot cabin or on a possible malfunction to the switches of the plane.
According to what is published by Wall Street Journalthe commander would have actually turned off the engines, and then deny to have done it (probably mind) to the first officer Clive Kunderwho at that moment was playing the role of Pilot Flying and was therefore materially committed to commanding the aircraft.
Precisely for this reason, Kunder may have noticed the shutdown of the switches too latepanicking: at that point, he would have repeatedly asked the commander for the reason for that action (repeatedly denied by Sabharwal), and then try to save the planeBefore reactivating the engines (at 10 and 14 seconds from the take -off) and then launching a Mayday At 08:09:05, immediately before the crash.
These new revelations, if confirmed, would allow to clarify the dark points of the disaster, excluding that the accident involving the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was caused by a technical problemthus raising the responsibility both the Boeing That GE Aerospacethe company that built the plane engines. In recent days, among other things, the CEO of Air India had also reported as the preliminary analysis of the Aaib had not highlighted technical or mechanical malfunction of the aircraft.
It would not be the first time that a pilot decides to commit suicide in flight: already in 2015 he had made the case of the accident of the Flight German Wings 9525which had been caused by adeliberate action of the first officer, Andreas Lubitz. In that case, the plane had crashed into the Alps of High Provence causing the death of all 150 people on board. The Air India AI -171 flight disaster therefore reopened the issue of mental health of the plane pilots and the medical checks to which they are subjected.
In these days, the installation of cameras inside the piloting cabinwith the aim of clarifying the dynamics of any future accidents. The proposal was also favorable the head of the iata (International Air Transport Associationthat is, the World Federation of Air Transport), which underlined how video recordings can provide additional support to investigations on air accidents.
