A year after Air India Flight 171 crashed into a medical college campus in Ahmedabad, investigators still cannot say exactly why the Boeing 787 came down. The accident killed 260 people.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau says work is still continuing on flight recorder data, aircraft systems, engine components, maintenance records and human factors. The final report has not yet been released.
A preliminary report said the fuel-control switches moved to the cut-off position seconds after take-off, which stopped fuel from reaching both engines. That finding led to debate about what happened in the cockpit.
Some experts think the switches show human action. Others say the crew may have been following a procedure to restart the engines after a problem. There is also interest in the emergency Ram Air Turbine, which provides backup power if both engines fail.
