The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday the fatal crash last month of an Air India Boeing BA.N 787 jet does not appear to have been caused by a mechanical issue or inadvertent movement of the fuel control unit or switches.
Reuters reported last week, citing a source, that the cockpit recording on the Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick suggested the captain cut fuel to the engines.
It’s looking more and more like the captain had a brain fart and flipped the wrong switches.
The pilot did it on purpose to kill himself. Not the first time a pilot has taken a plane down with him.
No other explanation. I’m a pilot. Cutting fuel off 200ft above the ground is suicide.
It’s not a flip switch. You have to specifically lift and twist the knobs to activate them. I can’t possibly imagine how you could do that twice. They’re not even near the rest of the controls, they’re back down between the seats.
They have to do it every day. It’d be exceedingly rare, but then I’m sure many of us have at least once in our lives put the car in the wrong gear. Yes it takes a little extra effort to turn the switches, but muscle memory might be able to overcome that.
It’s like turning off the ignition, twice. That would not be a brain fart, it’d be a complete brain failure. Like having a stroke, but with actions instead of words.