On July 24th, local time, it was learned that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Director, Bedford, stated that the fatal crash of an Indian Airlines Boeing 787 aircraft earlier did not seem to be caused by mechanical failures or the accidental movement of the fuel control device.
Bedford mentioned that FAA employees had disassembled the fuel control device for testing and sent inspectors on board to conduct checks. They are very confident that this issue was not caused by an accidental operation of the fuel control device.
On the afternoon of June 12th, a Boeing 787-8 from India took off shortly after takeoff at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, flying from India to the UK.
The Indian aviation disaster investigation authority disclosed preliminary findings of the crash of the Indian Airlines Boeing 787-8 on July 12th. The report indicated that the engine fuel supply was cut off just before the crash. Detailed data showed that the duration of the fuel supply cutoff on the involved aircraft was approximately 10 seconds. Subsequently, the fuel supply switch was adjusted to open, but the plane could not immediately stop descending and climb back up due to lack of sufficient power. Moreover, the mutual interval between the successive cuts off of the fuel supply switches for both engines of the involved aircraft was about 1 second.