Air India CEO Says Questions On Crash Remain

“Air India's chief executive urged staff to avoid drawing premature conclusions about what caused one of the airline's Boeing jets to crash in June, after a preliminary investigation ruled out mechanical or maintenance issues, turning attention to the pilots' actions.

 

Campbell Wilson told staff that the probe was "far from over," according to an internal memo, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, in which he set out some of the findings of a report issued by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau at the end of last week.

 

Wilson's memo didn't mention one of the AAIB's findings: that the airplane's fuel-control switches had been turned off one by one, seconds after takeoff, starving both engines of fuel.

 

The switches, which sit between the two seats in the cockpit, were turned back on about 10 seconds later, but the engines apparently couldn't fully restart and gain thrust fast enough, the report said.

 

The crash of the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner killed all but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board, as well as 19 people on the ground, when the plane slammed into a residential area beyond the airport in the Indian city of Ahmedabad.

 

Wilson urged staff to focus on the probe's finding that there were no problems with the fuel quality and no abnormality in the takeoff roll, which is the initial stage of takeoff when an aircraft accelerates on the ground. All mandatory maintenance tasks had been done, according to the report.

 

The pilots also passed a mandatory preflight breathalyzer test, and "there were no observations pertaining to their medical status," Wilson said.

 

The report "provided both greater clarity and opened additional questions," Wilson wrote.

 

The AAIB didn't reach any final conclusions about what factors led to the crash, or why the fuel switches might have been turned off. The report didn't go into whether the switches were turned off accidentally or intentionally.

 

There was apparent confusion in the cockpit between the pilots about the fuel switches, the report said. "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff," the report said. "The other pilot responded that he did not do so."

 

One of the pilots issued a Mayday call, but the plane crashed shortly afterward.

 

U.S. pilots who fly the 787 said the fuel-control switches would be difficult to move by accident. Pilots use the switches to start engines, shut them down or quickly restart them in certain emergencies.

 

The report noted that the FAA in 2018 issued a bulletin about "potential disengagement" on such features on 737s, a different and smaller Boeing model of jet.

 

That notice cautioned that some aircraft had been delivered with the locking mechanism -- which prevents the fuel switches from accidentally moving -- deactivated.” [1]

 

The FAA's 2018 Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB NM‑18‑33) indicated that the fuel control switch locking mechanisms on some Boeing 737s were found to be disengaged at the time of installation

. 

However, the bulletin doesn't explicitly state that this is a deficiency in the design of the switches themselves, but rather that the locking mechanism wasn't properly engaged during the installation process. The FAA clarified that the switch design, including the locking feature, is similar across various Boeing models, and they don't consider this issue an unsafe condition that would require a mandatory Airworthiness Directive (AD). The SAIB served as an advisory, highlighting a potential risk and recommending that airlines inspect and verify the functionality of the locking feature. 

So, it's not a clear deficiency in the fundamental design, but rather a warning about potential installation issues that could render the safety feature (the locking mechanism) ineffective. 

 

1. World News: Air India CEO Says Questions On Crash Remain. Li, Shan; Katz, Benjamin; Tangel, Andrew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 15 July 2025: A6. 

 

1. World News: Air India CEO Says Questions On Crash Remain. Li, Shan; Katz, Benjamin; Tangel, Andrew.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 15 July 2025: A6.