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Preliminary report into Air India crash released

(www.bbc.co.uk)
294 points cjr | 5 comments | 11 Jul 25 20:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.77s | 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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1. card_zero ◴[12 Jul 25 05:22 UTC] No.44539532[source]▶
Cutting the engines within seconds of leaving the ground doesn't fit suicide very well. I'd expect something more like flying into the side of a mountain or heading really far out into the Indian ocean until you vanish from radar and cause a big mystery.

For instance, you might deliberately kill yourself by driving your car really fast into something solid, but you probably wouldn't try to do that while backing out of the garage.

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2. coolspot ◴[12 Jul 25 05:31 UTC] No.44539570[source]▶
I think it is opposite. Flying into a mountain & etc would require one pilot to somehow incapacitate another pilot. Cutting fuel off, if done on takeoff, is not recoverable (engines can’t relight and spin up quickly enough).
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3. card_zero ◴[12 Jul 25 05:47 UTC] No.44539638[source]▶
OK, that makes a kind of sense, altitude would spoil the plan, if a suicidal pilot's only plan was to cut the engines.
4. userbinator ◴[12 Jul 25 06:32 UTC] No.44539834[source]▶
See Germanwings 9525 for an example of a conclusive suicide with no doubt from all the evidence.
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5. card_zero ◴[12 Jul 25 06:35 UTC] No.44539849[source]▶
See me obliquely referencing that with "flying into the side of a mountain".