Faulty chip blamed in Air India disaster — new report

A preliminary investigation into the June 12 crash of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner suggests a chip malfunction—not pilot error—was likely responsible for the disaster that killed 260 people. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's report found that both engine fuel cutoff switches flipped to the off position almost simultaneously shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, starving the engines of fuel and causing the plane to lose thrust and crash. While the switches were later found in the "run" position, there were signs the engines attempted to relight before the aircraft went down. A former pilot and senior lecturer, Marco Chan, told Reuters he believes the cause was a malfunctioning chip flagged in a past service bulletin by engine maker General Electric and the FAA. The bulletin had warned that chips with over 11,000 cycles needed replacement to prevent signal loss. "If maintenance isn’t done correctly," Chan said, "intermittent signal loss can occur. That signal loss can lead to the engine fuel cutoff." He also noted that it would be "close to zero" chance for pilots to accidentally trigger the cutoff switches mid-flight due to their physical design. The Dreamliner was en route to London and the crash is now considered the deadliest aviation accident globally in the last decade.