US officials have advised being cautious about the media reports on the Ahmedabad plane crash. Jennifer Homendy, chairman of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said that the things that have come to light are just speculative. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has just released its initial report. This kind of investigation takes time.
Homendy’s comment is regarding the report of the American newspaper Wall Street Journal (WSJ). This report, released three days ago, claimed that the captain of the plane, Sumit Sabharwal, had stopped the supply of fuel to the engines.
WSJ said that this was revealed from the cockpit recording of the conversation between the two pilots. The voice recording revealed that co-pilot Clive Kunder, who was flying the Boeing plane, asked Captain Sumit Sabharwal, ‘Why did you put the fuel switch in the ‘CUTOFF’ position?’ The co-pilot was surprised while asking the question. There was panic in his voice, while Captain Sumit looked calm.
AAIB had said on Wall Street report – wait for now
The Wall Street Journal has given this information, quoting American sources related to the investigation. After this, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has said that everyone should wait for the final report. The investigation is still going on and it would not be right to reach any conclusion right now.
India had also made the pilots’ conversation public
Earlier, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) had released its initial investigation report on the plane crash on July 12. It said that the fuel switches suddenly moved from ‘RUN’ to ‘CUTOFF’ position, causing both engines to shut down.
However, the report did not explain how the fuel switches were turned off. The AAIB report said that on the cockpit voice recorder, one pilot was heard asking the other why he turned off the fuel. The other pilot replied that he did not do so.