The preliminary investigation report of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 has been released. In this report issued by the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of India, many important facts related to this terrible accident have been revealed.
What are the main findings of the report?
The plane lost power as soon as it took off
- The plane crashed just 32 seconds after takeoff.
- It covered a distance of only 0.9 nautical miles (about 1.6 km).
- The accident happened at 1:39 pm, when the plane B.J. Dropped off at the hostel of Medical College.
How did both engines shut down?
- The fuel cutoff switch, which serves to fuel the engine, moved from the RUN position to the CUTOFF position —
that is, fuel flow to the engine stopped. - This transition happened with a gap of one second in both the engines.
Pilots talk in the cockpit
- In the voice recorder (cockpit audio) one pilot asked the other: “Why did you turn off the engine?” The answer was: “I didn’t.” This reduces the possibility of human error — that is, the pilot did not intentionally shut down the engine.
Activation of Ram Air Turbine (RAT).
- CCTV footage from the airport showed that the RAT (Ram Air Turbine) went out immediately after take-off.
- The RAT comes out only when the aircraft’s main power supply fails, i.e. the aircraft is completely powerless.
What was the condition of the engine?
- Information obtained from Black Box (Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder):
- Engine-1 showed a slight recovery — its core speed first stopped, then started to increase again.
- Engine-2 was refueled, but its core speed could not increase. He kept trying to restart again and again, but could not succeed.
Flaps and landing gear were normal
- The report stated that:
- The flap setting was at 5 degrees — which is normal for takeoff.
- The landing gear lever was also in the down position — that is, everything was according to standard procedure.
Thrust lever position
The thrust lever (which accelerates the aircraft) was almost in the IDLE (low power) position at the time of impact. But the black box data showed that they were in the FORWARD position until the engine shut down.
What next?
- The AAIB will now investigate in depth how the two fuel cutoff switches turned off automatically.
- Human error, technical glitches, electronic failures or software glitches — all points are being reviewed.
- The final report may take a few months.