Air India plane crash: What exactly happened inside Boeing Dreamliner flight cockpit on June 12? A blow-by-blow account

Cockpit audio from Air India flight indicates fuel supply may have been cut off by the captain, according to the WSJ. The pilots' body rejected the claim.

A cockpit audio recording from the London-bound Air India flight, which crashed near the Ahmedabad airport on June 12, suggests the captain may have shut off fuel supply to the Boeing 787’s engines, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

The remains of an Air India plane that crashed moments after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport lie on a building in Ahmedabad. The first investigation report into the crash has revealed that both switches feeding fuel to the two engines of Air India flight 171 were cut off, followed by pilot confusion, before the plane crashed in Ahmedabad seconds after taking off. (CISF/X)

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), however, has strongly criticised the WSJ report, accusing it of attempting to pin the blame on the pilot.

FIP president CS Randhawa rejected the claims, noting that the preliminary findings released last week by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) did not attribute the crash to any pilot error.

Indian investigators, in their preliminary report released on Saturday, have outlined a second-by-second account of the events that unfolded on June 12:

1:18:38 pm IST: The aircraft was observed departing from Bay 34 at the airport.

1:25:15 pm IST: The aircraft requested taxi clearance, which was granted by air traffic control; a minute later the aircraft taxied from the bay to Runway 23 via Taxiway R4, backtracked and lined up for take-off.

1:32:03 pm IST: The aircraft was transferred from ground to tower control.

1:37:33 pm IST: Take-off clearance issued.

1:37:37 pm IST: The aircraft started rolling.

1:38:39 pm IST: Aircraft lifted off. "The aircraft air/ground sensors transitioned to air mode, consistent with liftoff," the report said.

1:38:42 pm IST: Aircraft reached max airspeed of 180 knots. "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. 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.”

"The CCTV footage obtained from the airport showed Ram Air Turbine (RAT) getting deployed during the initial climb immediately after lift-off. The aircraft started to lose altitude before crossing the airport perimeter wall."

1:38:47 pm IST: Both engines' values "passed below minimum idle speed", and the RAT hydraulic pump began supplying hydraulic power.

1:38:52 pm IST: Engine 1 fuel cutoff switch transitioned from CUTOFF to RUN.

1:38:56 pm IST: Engine 2 fuel cutoff switch also transitions from CUTOFF to RUN.

"When fuel control switches are moved from CUTOFF to RUN while the aircraft is inflight, each engines full authority dual engine control (FADEC) automatically manages a relight and thrust recovery sequence of ignition and fuel introduction."

"Engine 1’s core deceleration stopped, reversed and started to progress to recovery. Engine 2 was able to relight but could not arrest core speed deceleration and re-introduced fuel repeatedly to increase core speed acceleration and recovery."

1:39:05 pm IST: One of the pilots transmitted “MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY".

1:39:11 pm IST: Data recording stopped.

1:44:44 pm. IST: Crash fire tender left the airport premises for rescue and firefighting.

(With inputs from Reuters)