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The investigation into last month’s Air India crash that killed 260 people found that fuel control switches were turned off after takeoff, then turned back on before impact, in an apparent case of pilot confusion, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
In a preliminary report released Friday, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said both switches that control the flow of fuel to the Boeing (NYSE:BA) 787 Dreamliner’s two engines were switched off once the aircraft reached a speed of 180 knots, just seconds after lifting off the ground.
According to the report, the switches went from “run” to “cutoff” one after another, with a second’s time in between, and the move cut the engine’s fuel supply.
By the both fuel cutoff switches were turned back on, the engines were unable to fully restart and regain thrust fast enough to avoid the disaster.
The preliminary report did not reach any final conclusions about what factors led to the accident, or why the fuel switches might have been turned off, and did not issue any recommendations for Boeing (NYSE:BA), engine maker GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE), or operators of the aircraft at this stage of the investigation.