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Preliminary report into Air India crash released

(www.bbc.co.uk)
293 points cjr | 4 comments | 11 Jul 25 20:23 UTC | HN request time: 1.004s | source
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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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chupchap ◴[11 Jul 25 21:29 UTC] No.44536947[source]▶
Or a mechanical failure
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1. Spooky23 ◴[12 Jul 25 04:28 UTC] No.44539314[source]▶
Serious question: why is it so difficult to fathom that a deranged pilot could decide to commit suicide by plane?
replies(2): >>44539646 #>>44541513 #
2. ExoticPearTree ◴[12 Jul 25 05:49 UTC] No.44539646[source]▶
To answer your question: because it is a very rare occurence.
replies(1): >>44540085 #
3. cjbprime ◴[12 Jul 25 07:34 UTC] No.44540085[source]▶
It's not that rare, and there are institutional factors (such as seeking treatment for psychosis being career-ending for a pilot) that incentivize serious pilot mental health crises being untreated.
4. shash ◴[12 Jul 25 12:10 UTC] No.44541513[source]▶
Not difficult, but can you close an investigation on that note without going over other possibilities?

What if there's another safety lesson to be learnt here?