The official report into last month’s Air India crash that killed 270 people has revealed a terrifying exchange that took place in the cockpit seconds before the doomed flight went down.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigations Branch published its preliminary findings report tonight, 30 days after the tragic events in Ahmedabad.
Black box data previously recovered confirmed that less than 60 seconds after leaving Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, the plane lost altitude and crashed into a building that was used as doctors’ accommodation at the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.
Now, investigators believe switches controlling fuel flow to both engines were incorrectly flipped seconds after take-off, sparking the horror incident.
And, the report confirms: “In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.”
The report goes on:”At about 08:09:05 UTC, one of the pilots transmitted “MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY”. The ATCO enquired about the call sign. ATCO did not get any response but observed the aircraft crashing outside the airport boundary and activated the emergency response.”
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS STORY AND IS BEING CONSTANTLY UPDATED.