Fuel switches cut off before plane crash – report

FUEL supplies to the engines of the Air India jet that crashed last month, killing 241 people on board, were cut off apparently without either pilot having switched them off, a preliminary report into the disaster said.

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The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff on June 12 in what is one of the deadliest plane accidents in terms of the number of British nationals killed.

The report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, published late on Friday, said the jet was carrying 54,200kg of fuel, which was within the “allowable limits”.

The report then said: “The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec. The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their takeoff values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off.