The preliminary report on a Boeing 787 crash has sparked debate among aviation experts. The report focusses on the position of fuel control switches in the cockpit, suggesting both were moved to the 'cut off' position. Experts question the likelihood of accidental manual switching, given the safety mechanisms in place. The report also mentions a 'mayday' call immediately at takeoff, indicating a grave situation. Former officials highlight past incidents of dual engine failures in 787s and stress the importance of investigating potential technical malfunctions rather than focusing solely on pilot actions. The conversation between pilot and co-pilot, where one asks why the other shut off the engines and receives a denial, adds complexity to the investigation.
00:00Well, Gaurav, we are trying to visually make sense of what the 15-page report, the prelim
00:06report means, what it is indicating towards.
00:09We have a virtual tour of a 787 cockpit.
00:16You can see the two seats for the pilot, the co-pilot.
00:20The area of operation, the main focus area is this point.
00:24You can see the two switches.
00:26This reads fuel control, this reads run, this reads cutoff.
00:30Now the most interesting part here is that even if the pilots, even if pilot would accidentally
00:37turn this switch from, let's say, run to cutoff, they need to pick it up, pull it vertically
00:44up and then pull it down to cutoff, which is very, very difficult for one switch.
00:50In this case, we are given to believe that both these two switches got off, were pulled
00:56up and then change the position to cutoff.
00:59Now, we have been speaking to several experts.
01:01They are saying accidental switching manually is virtually impossible.
01:06Why there is a prelim report?
01:08Because as a signatory, India is supposed to release the prelim report so that if there is
01:13an inherent design or manufacturing issues, the safety of other passengers flying on the
01:19similar aircrafts can be ensured.
01:21That is why prelim report, mandated prelim report within first 30 days, if there is no inherent
01:28design issue or manufacturing issue, remember why there is a U.S. agency proving this?
01:34Because as the rules state, because India is a signatory of all these treaties, the rules
01:42state that the country from where the manufacturer is based out of the design, there are two American
01:49companies involved, first is Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, then second GE, the makers of
01:54the engine, so they are supposed to provide help in order to understand what has happened.
01:59Remember, this switch is accessible to both these pilots, the co-pilots and pilots both
02:03can access.
02:04And the experts have been telling us that there are additional two safety walls, this is one
02:08safety wall, this is another safety wall, and in order to ensure extra safety, there
02:13is additional safeguards, you cannot just accidentally turn this switch up or down.
02:19So, we will know definitely, Gaurav, in next few months, probably a year after, what exactly
02:25transpired.
02:26But experts who have kind of gone through all these 15 pages of reports are indicating that
02:31some kind of interference, whether it was unintentional or intentional, has to be there, if not a mechanical
02:37failure.
02:38Stay with me, stay with me, let me quickly bring in Air Marshal Sanjeev Kapoor, he is former
02:43Director General, Flight Safety and Inspections.
02:45Sir, you have carried out as DG Flight Safety and Inspections, I am certain several crash investigations,
02:53probes and sat on reports in your appreciation and finalized reports in your appreciation, has
02:59something like this happened before and your take initially on this report?
03:03Hey, Gaurav, I have covered it with you a number of times before.
03:10And now, with the preliminary report, I am covering the enhanced story of this.
03:16Never ever, immediately at UNSTIC, does a pilot give a Mayday call.
03:23Somebody has missed out in this report.
03:25The relevance of a Mayday call when the pilot gives at immediately at UNSTIC means something
03:31grave has happened.
03:33So, there is no doubt in anybody's mind that both the engines have failed, because the rat is deployed, because of the other...
03:40Now, why the engines have failed has never come out in this preliminary report.
03:47They have all said that the fuel shut-off cock has been moved, all this thing has moved, but just before this movement, what was the status in the flight recorder of the engine that has not come out?
03:58One.
03:59Number two, your 2018 report, after that, in 2019, January, a Nippon Airways aircraft in Japan 787 on landing had both engine failures.
04:10Fortunately, for that airplane, when the pilots operated the first reversals, both the engines cut out in the same way, in the same way as it happened.
04:19And this aircraft is totally and totally computerized, electrically driven, software driven.
04:26So, the over-reliance on technology, because now let's presume the pilot is taking off on the ill-fated day, he's looking ahead, he's manually taking off.
04:37Why on this earth would he turn 170 degrees behind to operate a switch manually, for which no sane pilot in this world would do this action intentionally to shut down the engines when he's taking off?
04:52In every aircraft, which has more than one crew, every action is challenged in response.
04:58Yes.
04:59When a pilot does a critical action, he says it on RT.
05:02He says it.
05:03Because it's recorded.
05:04The other pilot acknowledges it.
05:05I'm shutting off this lever and the other pilot says, okay.
05:09And then he does and both acknowledge and that's recorded in the CVR.
05:12Yes.
05:13So, absolutely bizarre in my opinion to say that the pilot just operated the switch.
05:18Yes.
05:19Without telling the other one and the other one saying it didn't happen.
05:21Sir, give me a moment.
05:22Let me bring in Atul Singh also into this conversation.
05:25Sir, your assessment of this report that has come out and that conversation between the pilot and the co-pilot asking the other why have you shuttered and the other one saying, no, I haven't.
05:38Gaurav, first of all, one thing we must consider at the beginning that this is a preliminary report.
05:45Yes.
05:46One thing at least clear that out of all those narratives which we have been put across that unwarranted
05:53retraction of flash in the initial of the conversation, putting somehow the blame upon the pilots.
06:01Yes.
06:02The narratives were running.
06:03I mean, the pilot is the culprit.
06:05No.
06:06In this report too, one thing sounds very contradictory to me that without investigating the complete scenario, whether the FedEx system or that time the engine control system, civil control system, there is only one line of conclusion that civil switch was cut off.
06:31Cut off.
06:32Cut off.
06:33Why it was cut off?
06:34Another crew, upon confirmation, upon the corporate recall process, during the corporate recall process, he says, no, he didn't.
06:44But it is pretty clear that it was not done manually.
06:49There was no unwarranted manual intervention during that critical phase of time.
06:55Then the question arises.
06:56Then why it happened?
06:58There might be some case of serious technical malfunctioning, which I have been saying since day one, that the class investigators, NTSB, FAN, all the concerned stakeholders should focus in close cooperation with Boeing
07:14Boeing Corporation, their manufacturers, to find out what was that technical problem instead of giving rounds to all these kind of unbelievable theories.
