Air India crash report reveals chilling cockpit exchange before plane hit ground

A chilling conversation that played out in the cockpit moments before the Air India crash has been revealed in a new report.

India's Aircraft Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB) released its initial report last night, exactly one month on from thetragedy in Ahmedabad that left 260 people dead. Recovered black box data confirmed the aircraft began its rapid descent within a minute of departing from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, causing it tocrash into a building housing doctors at the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital. Investigators continue to pore through the wreckage and black box as part of the investigation, which is being led by Indian authorities and also involves experts from Britain and the US.

Investigators now believe switches controlling the fuel supply to both engines were mistakenly turned off shortly after take-off, causing both engines to lose power and triggering the devastating crash.

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Detailing a panicked exchange between the pilots as they realised the engines were off, the report states: "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.

"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."

The preliminary findings primarily focus on the new detail that switches had been turned off after take-off, resulting in an apparent loss of thrust after reaching only 625 feet.

This would explain why the emergency-power generator appeared to have been activated on the aircraft, as previously reported.

The AAIB's preliminary findings also confirmed there was "no bird activity" around Ahmedabad at the time of the accident, ruling out the theory of a bird strike to both engines.

It reads: "No significant bird activity is observed in the vicinity of the flight path. The aircraft started to lose altitude before crossing the airport perimeter wall."

Describing the damage to the Boeing 747 Dreamliner and the buildings on the ground, the report concludes: "The Aircraft was destroyed due to impact with the buildings on the ground and subsequent fire. A total of five buildings were impacted and suffered major structural and fire damages.

"As the aircraft was losing altitude, it initially made contact with a series of trees and an incineration chimney inside the Army Medical Corps compound before impacting the northeast wall of the first building.

"As the aircraft moved forward, it continued fragmenting and collided with other structures and vegetation. The impact witness marks on the building and airplane indicated a likely nose-up attitude (about 8°) and wings level."

All but one of the 242 passengers died when Flight AI171 collided with the doctors' hostel on the ground, with the report confirming 19 people perished on the ground.

British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was the only passenger to survive the impact, miraculously managing to walk away from the wreckage despite his injuries. He has since given a statement to investigators, the conclusion of the report states.