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Preliminary report into Air India crash released

(www.bbc.co.uk)
299 points cjr | 16 comments | 11 Jul 25 20:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.807s | source | bottom
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decimalenough ◴[11 Jul 25 21:24 UTC] No.44536914[source]▶
> 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 take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off.

So the fuel supply was cut off intentionally. The switches in question are also built so they cannot be triggered accidentally, they need to be unlocked first by pulling them out.

> In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.

And both pilots deny doing it.

It's difficult to conclude anything other than murder-suicide.

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1. dcreater ◴[11 Jul 25 22:42 UTC] No.44537520[source]▶
Do you know if the mechanical position of the switch guarantees its electronic state without any possibility for hardware malfunction? If no, then you are claiming a person made one of the most grave acts of inhumanity ever.

This sounds to me like an electronics issue - an intermittent, inadvertent state transition likely due to some PCB component malfunction

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2. cosmicgadget ◴[11 Jul 25 22:52 UTC] No.44537589[source]▶
Murder-suicide has happened on a few occasions. How many times has your malfunction occurred on an aircraft fuel system?
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3. stefan_ ◴[11 Jul 25 23:00 UTC] No.44537653[source]▶
And then 10s later the switches magically fixed themselves? The likely not electronically connected switches since that would compromise engine redundancy?
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4. ◴[11 Jul 25 23:05 UTC] No.44537696[source]▶
5. bgwalter ◴[11 Jul 25 23:12 UTC] No.44537737[source]▶
Not precisely the electrical malfunction, but dual engine shutdown has occurred, fortunately after landing:

https://www.aerosociety.com/news/ana-787-engine-shutdown/

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6. K0balt ◴[11 Jul 25 23:20 UTC] No.44537803[source]▶
The time between the two switches being activated and then them being switched back on after being noticed strongly suggests that they were actually manipulated. Malice looke very likely to me. An investigation into the pilots life may turn something up, I guess.

It’s worth noting that Premeditation or “intention” doesn’t have to factor into this.

Studies of survivors of impulse suicides (jumping off of bridges etc) indicate that many of them report having no previous suicidal ideation, no intention or plan to commit suicide, and in many cases no reported depression or difficulties that might encourage suicide.

Dark impulses exist and they don’t always get caught in time by the supervisory conscious process. Most people have experienced this in its more innocuous forms, the call of the void and whatnot, but many have also been witness to thoughtless destructive acts that defy reason and leave the perpetrator confused and in denial.

replies(1): >>44538497 #
7. postingawayonhn ◴[11 Jul 25 23:23 UTC] No.44537818[source]▶
There is also audio of the pilots discussing the issue.
8. lazide ◴[11 Jul 25 23:26 UTC] No.44537834[source]▶
The other pilot likely flipped them back - but at that point, it was impossible to avoid crashing.
9. cosmicgadget ◴[11 Jul 25 23:46 UTC] No.44537960{3}[source]▶
That doesn't seem to be a malfunction at all.
10. dcreater ◴[12 Jul 25 00:29 UTC] No.44538195[source]▶
intermittent state switching is absolutely a thing in (poorly designed/manufactured/tested/QC'd) electronics
replies(1): >>44538219 #
11. pixl97 ◴[12 Jul 25 00:33 UTC] No.44538219{3}[source]▶
It is, and one would expect that a single switch failure would be far more probable, so how often have we had switch failure single engine cutoff in the 787?
12. dcreater ◴[12 Jul 25 01:25 UTC] No.44538497[source]▶
> The time between the two switches being activated and then them being switched back on after being noticed strongly suggests that they were actually manipulated

How so? It is just as likely to be an intermitted electronic malfunction.

replies(1): >>44538582 #
13. userbinator ◴[12 Jul 25 01:37 UTC] No.44538557[source]▶
All this rests on whether we have CVR audio of the pilot(s) manipulating the switches.
14. pixl97 ◴[12 Jul 25 01:41 UTC] No.44538582{3}[source]▶
For both switches on seperate systems and wires that are independant.

I mean, it's not impossible, but it sure the hell is improbable.

15. ekianjo ◴[12 Jul 25 03:19 UTC] No.44539010[source]▶
The rodents were remorseful and fixed the cables in the meantime. /s
16. shash ◴[12 Jul 25 12:13 UTC] No.44541528{3}[source]▶
Different engine (those are Trents and this was a GEnx), but yeah, that _did_ happen.