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One of the pilots of Air India Flight 171 (AI171) toggled both of the aircraft’s engine fuel supply switches 3 sec. after liftoff, setting the stage for the Boeing 787 to crash 27 sec. later despite at least one pilot’s effort to re-start the spooling down engines, a preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released early July 12 local time suggests.
Information on the June 12 accident gleaned from one of the aircraft’s enhanced airborne flight recorders (EAFRs) and included in the report shows the left (No. 1) and right (No. 2) engine’s fuel cutoff switch “transitioned” from RUN to CUTOFF within 1 sec. of each other just after the aircraft rotated.
“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff,” the report said. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so.”
Nothing out of the ordinary preceded the fatal flight deck move that would explain the pilot’s actions. There was no indication of an engine or aircraft malfunction that would prompt an immediate response. The report reveals nothing else unusual about the flight.
The aircraft, VT-ANB, conducted a normal takeoff roll down Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport Runway 23 and rotated at 155 kt.—its calculated rotation speed given the conditions.
The aircraft’s weight was within its takeoff limits. The cargo manifest listed no dangerous goods. Fuel samples taken from tanks that supplied VT-ANB were tested and “found satisfactory,” the report said. “Limited” samples taken from the wreckage are being tested at a special facility capable of managing small amounts of fuel, AAIB said.
There was no indication of a bird strike or nearby bird activity.
Liftoff was at 13:38:39 local time as recorded on the EAFR via the 787’s air to ground sensors transitioning to “air” mode.
Evidence from the wreckage and the EAFR showed its flaps were set at flaps 5, “consistent with a normal takeoff flap setting,” AAIB said. The thrust handles were found in the idle position, but EAFR data show they were forward, at takeoff thrust, “until impact,” the report said.
The 787 was climbing at 180 kt. when the fuel cutoff switches were toggled at 13:38:41. The engines immediately began to lose power.
Within 10 sec. both switches were toggled back on, triggering an automatic engine relight sequence by the 787’s full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system.
“The [engine gas temperature] was observed to be rising for both engines indicating relight,” the report said. “Engine 1’s core deceleration stopped, reversed and started to progress to recovery. Engine 2 was able to relight but could not arrest core speed deceleration and re-introduced fuel repeatedly to increase core speed acceleration and recovery.”
The engine cutoff sequence triggered the 787’s backup power. Its ram air turbine was deployed within seconds and began supplying hydraulic power at 13:38:47. This prevented the landing gear from being retracted, as the RAT’s available power is directed to more critical flight controls.
Its auxiliary power unit began an auto-start process. Despite the FADEC’s work and the automatic back-up power, recovery was not possible.
One pilot transmitted a Mayday call at 13:39:05.
Air traffic control (ATC) asked the pilot for the aircraft’s call sign. ATC “did not get any response but observed the aircraft crashing outside the airport boundary and activated the emergency response.”
The aircraft went down at about 13:39:09, 0.9 nm. from the runway end, impacting some trees and then multiple buildings at a medical college. The crash killed 241 of 242 occupants on the 787 and 19 on the ground.
The two-pilot flight crew included a male captain, age 56, with an air transport pilot’s license and 15,638 total flight hours--more than half of them on the 787. The male first officer had a commercial pilot’s license and 3,403 total flight hours, including 1,128 on the 787.
AAIB’s report does not link specific actions or radio transmissions with either pilot.
The probe is in its early stages.
“The investigation team will review and examine additional evidence, records and information that is being sought from the stakeholders,” AAIB said. “At this stage ... there are no recommended actions to [787] and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers.”
Air India said in a statement that it “stands in solidarity with the families and those affected by the AI171 accident.”
It did not comment on the report’s details, citing “the active nature of the investigation.”
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