Name: Preliminary report released on Air India plane crash shows fuel cutoff
Uploaded: 2025-07-12T19:19:37.000Z
Duration: 2 min 8 s
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Present continuous

We're getting a look at a preliminary report into last month's deadly Air India plane crash.

Past simple

The plane was bound for London when it crashed moments after takeoff. 260 people were killed in the incident.

CBS News transportation safety expert and analyst Robert Sumwalt joins us now for more.

He's also the former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

What stands out to you about the report's findings?

Well, Tom, what stands out is that the fuel switches in the cockpit were actually shut off by somebody in the cockpit.

And I think what this really shows is that this was not a problem with the airplane itself or with the engines.

So is this something where investigators are now going to be looking for potentially a  Or did a person do this?

What happens next in the investigation, Robert?

Yeah, I think that's the real question is why were these engines, fuel shutoff switches moved to the shutoff position?

I think that's the big question that investigators are going to try to answer.

So when they concluded this, Robert, what were exactly they looking for?

What evidence or smoking gun did they have to make this conclusion that these fuel sources were shut off?

Yeah, the flight data recorder would show the position of these switches and they were moved from the run position to the shutoff position.

And so just walk me through this for people who are not familiar with aviation.

How in the world could these fuel switches have been flipped off?

And I think that, you know, I was an airline pilot for 24 years.

These switches can't just inadvertently be shut off by that.

Somebody actually has to take the switch and pull it up over a little cam to shut it off.

So the big question is, was this an inadvertent shutting off of these switches or was it intentional?

That's the big question that investigators will try to answer.

Lots of questions still coming out of this investigation.