Fuel switch won't turn off even if touched accidentally; Was Ahmedabad Air India crash a sabotage?

NEW DELHI: Several doubts are being raised after the preliminary investigation report of the Ahmedabad Air India crash that killed 260 people has been released. The plane flew for just 32 seconds. It was also found that the switch for supplying fuel to the engine of the Boeing 787 aircraft was off. This is a switch that cannot be turned off even by mistake. Let's examine the switch that supplies fuel to the engine in the aircraft and how it works.

What is a fuel switch?
These are switches that control the flow of fuel to the aircraft's engines. In order for the aircraft's engine to work, it must first be switched on. Moreover, if an emergency occurs during flight and the engine stops, these are turned off and then turned on immediately. This is how the engine is restarted.

Since these switches are so important, aviation experts say that they are not built in such a way that they are turned off if touched accidentally. However, if these are turned off, the engine will stop working immediately. US aviation expert John Cox said that the fuel switch works independently from other systems in the aircraft. A pilot would not cut off the switches unnecessarily. He said that one would never do so during takeoff.

Location of fuel switches
There are two fuel switches in the cockpit of the crashed Boeing 787 aircraft below the thrust lever. There are mechanisms to prevent them from being accidentally moved. Moreover, to operate this switch, the pilot must pull the switch up and move it forward or backward. When moving it forward, it reaches the run position and when moving it backward, it reaches the cut-off position. If the switch is released after reaching the cut-off position, the operations of the engine will stop immediately.

According to information from the cockpit, these switches turned off within seconds of the aircraft taking off. They moved from the run position to the cut-off position. The switch was turned off in a split second. With this, the flow of fuel to the engine stopped. The plane then fell to the ground without getting the necessary pressure to take off. One of the pilots, who noticed that the switch was off, asked why it was cut off. The other replied that he didn’t do it. This conversation was obtained from the voice recorder. During the conversation, one of the pilots brought the switches to the run position, but during the restart, the plane lost thrust and crashed.

The information in the preliminary investigation report strengthens the possibility of a sabotage in the plane crash. The reason for the suspicion is that the switch did not turn off even by mistake. Air India and Boeing have announced that they will cooperate with the detailed investigation. Only after a detailed report is received, the real cause of the accident will be clear.