Preliminary report into Air India crash released

> 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.

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

Is it possible it could have been an accident or a mistake by one of the pilots? How intention-proofed are engine cutoffs?

You have to pull the switches out (against a spring) to be able to move them over a notch and flip them. Not really something you can just mistake for another switch or bump into by accident.

I'd liken it to turning off the ignition by turning the key while driving your car. Possibly something that could happen if you're really fatigued, but requires quite a mental lapse.

Report says the switches went to cutoff one second apart from each other. Can a human do the physical operation on two switches that quickly?

There's a good photo of them here; https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/ai171-investigatio...

You can do them both with one hand.

Are you completely sure you can considering that they are spring loaded and they are like 7-10cm apart judging by the size of other controls?

I don't understand your question. I have done this myself, am I completely sure?

Did you mean to say you can activate the switches with one hand simultaneously? That is probably what the above commenter assumed you meant. Since lifting and twisting two switches simultaneously with one hand seems challenging.

It didn't happen simultaneously so this is irrelevant.