Serious aeroplane crash

[Alex]

The cockpit audio is puzzling too, final words were published by the Indian authorities, detailing how one was heard asking the other why 'did you cut off' the fuel supply, while the other responded he 'didn't'.


Daily Mail

[Ashy]

The chances of this terrible incident being anything other than a deliberate action are somewhere near zero. I've seen people fiddle with things when they are distracted or their mind wanders but for this to happen with trained personnel in a situation requiring intense concentration must be impossible.

Should they reposition the switches, or make them key operated or fully shrouded? That's something for Boeing to consider and weigh against the procedure for engine fires and flame outs.

Another suggestion would be to return to three officers on the flight deck, but I guess that could increase the risk of misadventure and would increase fares and charges.

Although no mention has been made of the possibility of third parties on the flight deck, there is a famous case of a pilot who brought his children to work. The teenage boy disengaged the autopilot and crashed the aeroplane. (Aeroflot flight 593 in 1994)

[klondike]

The timing suggest to me that once this mistake/whatever is made at the point it was the plane's fate is sealed.

From the report..

Switches set to off 08:08:42
Switches set to run 08:08:52  - corrected within 10 seconds
Recording ceased (presumably at time of crash) 08:09:11 - just 29 seconds after the fuel was cut off.

The only way that can be prevented other than as deliberate sabotage seems to me to be to put those switches well away from the main flight controls. Maybe I'm missing something but other that when something has gone drastically wrong there is no need for them to be used other than when starting up ready for the flight and after parking up at the destination.

There is mention of known problems with the latching mechanism which makes using them have to be a deliberate manual action rather than an accidental knock and as the check was only advisory not mandatory was not routinely carried out. I'm guessing post crash damage they can't be retroactively checked to see if they were operating correctly.