Air India crash probe 'focuses on actions of plane's captain'

A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month indicates the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane's engines, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

- DAVID SHEPARDSON DAN CATCHPOLE

The newspaper cited people familiar with US officials’ early assessment of evidence uncovered in the investigation into the June 12 crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad, India, that killed 260 people.

A preliminary report into the crash released by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Saturday said one pilot was then heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel and “the other pilot responded that he did not do so.” Investigators did not identify which remarks were made by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and which by First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively.

Kunder, who was flying the plane, asked Sabharwal why he moved the fuel switches to the “cutoff” position seconds after lifting off the runway, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Journal did not say if there was any evidence that Sabharwal did move the switches, beyond the verbal exchange it cited. But it quoted US pilots who have read the Indian authorities’ report as saying that Kunder, the pilot actively flying, likely would have had his hands full pulling back on the Dreamliner's controls at that stage of the flight.