Air India jet’s fuel switches in focus, as crash preliminary report nears

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A preliminary report could provide early details into the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.

PHOTO: REUTERS

A preliminary report into the

crash of an Air India jetliner that killed 260 people in Jun

The London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which started losing height after reaching an altitude of 650 feet (198m),crashed moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and the rest on the ground.

The investigation into the Air India flight 171 crash is focusing on the movement of the engine fuel control switches, following an analysis of the Boeing 787’s flight and voice data recorders, along with a simulation by Boeing of the aircraft’s final moments, one of the sources said.

The investigation has not raised any immediate concerns over mechanical failure, the source said, and there has been no bulletin to airlines recommending changes to 787 operations.

Boeing declined to comment.

Aviation industry publication the Air Current first reported the focus on the fuel switches that help power the plane’s two engines.

It was not clear what specific actions involving the fuel switches are being looked at by investigators.

Sources told the Air Current that the available information on the black boxes could not rule in or out improper, inadvertent