Air India Crash: Cockpit Confusion and Fuel Switch Blunder

A cockpit recording from the tragic Air India crash last month suggests a critical error occurred when the captain turned off the engine fuel switches, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The error reportedly happened just after the Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off, causing concern in the cockpit.

A preliminary investigation by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau confirmed confusion between the two pilots, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, as the crash unfolded. The first officer reportedly questioned why the captain set the fuel switches to 'cutoff,' causing a panic before the fatal accident on June 12.

Inquiries into the crash that claimed 260 lives continue, with U.S. officials and India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation involved in uncovering the sequence of events that led to this aviation disaster. Neither Boeing nor Air India has yet commented on the Wall Street Journal's revelations.

(With inputs from agencies.)