Flight to Gatwick crashes near airport in Ahmedabad, India,

If it's suicide that really confirms the scary fact that if a pilot wants to bring a plane down they will, no matter what little insurance steps are taken to prevent it.

We'll see what the final conclusions are...

here’s a pdf of the prelim

(Not sure if already posted)

https://aaib.gov.in/What's%20New%20Assets/Preliminary%20Report%20VT-ANB.pdf

The Malaysian Airlines flight from 2014 was almost certainly murder-suicide as well.

For what reason would you have switches to cutoff fuel to the engines in the first place?

To me it sounds like one of the pilots was not suicidal but got distracted, or had something else on his mind, and toggled the switches just at the most critical moment. If the plane had been higher the engines would have recovered in time. He got embarrased and denied he switched them. Pilots are human and can make mistakes.

As explained above, the switches can not be accidentally moved. 'Distracted' is implausible because it's impossible.

It's the critical moment of takeoff and you really want to claim he was maybe wondering whether he left the oven on and accidentally cut off fuel to the engines then instead of admitting and doing everything possible to fix it just calmly denied it? Sounds totally implausible.

They delayed and are still at it, by not specifying which pilot said what.

India denied any aircraft losses to Pakistan in operation Sindoor. Eventually after 24 days they admitted losses, but not their number. It's taken France to reveal that one of the losses was a Rafale.

They actually could be albeit, I agree with you in that this is far, far more likely a deliberate act.

In 2018 Boeing issued an SAIB relating to a fault in the locking and ratcheting mechanism on the fuel cutoff switches used on 737 & 787.

The Air India 787 uses the same module, Air India have confirmed that the module was never inspected for this fault.

I was reading up a bit on the Air India 787 engine issue in 2018 that contributed to Boeing issuing a SAIB (rather than a directive) in 2018 to check the ratcheting/locking mechanisms on 737 & 787 fuel selector switches.

It was in 2018 that the US FAA issued Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB), NM-18-33, on potential problems with fuel control switch locking mechanisms on Boeing aircraft. 

The bulletin came after reports that these switches were installed with their locking features disengaged on some Boeing 737s.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/not-mandatory-us-regulator-flagged-fuel-switch-issues-in-2018-what-air-india-told-crash-probe-team-101752310443969.html

It appears that the crashed 787, had never been checked for the issue.

It again however, would require 2 separate switches to encounter the same failure at the same time. Versus it being as seems more likely, a deliberate action on the part of a pilot.

It also highlights the danger inherent in issuing a bulletin for a potential fault that could lead to airframe loss rather than a directive.

Where risk to life is possible, the manufacturer and the regulators must take far more effective action than just issuing a notice.

If they've never been checked for the defect? Then of course no defect would be reported. Air India confirmed they never reviewed any of their aircraft using the notified modules were ever investigated for the fault

How ridiculous it is that one can simply turn these switches off so easily . And that they are positioned in a very busy spot for hands. You'd think it would be safer to have those switches up and away from throttle , where you need to reach and lean somewhere above to move them on and off. It's like having a cutoff button on a gearstick of a car.

It means that where the fault exists they can be moved inadvertandly, without active unlock step by the pilot.
It means that were both switches afflicted with the fault?(However unlikely)
That there is a non-zero chance that the switches could be moved by being knocked, as happened with the flight that that led to the bulletin being issued.

To be clear, I dont believe that an inadvertent knock against both switches caused the fuel cut off.
However, given that one of the flights in 2018 that led to the Bulletin being issued, was an Air India flight?
For Air India to confirm that they undertook no checks of the switches highlighted in the Bulletins is IMHO, reckless and unnecessary risk taking on their part.

https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/air-india-crash-2018-fuel-switch-warning/

The guard lock should be a lift-and-throw mechanism, requiring effort to uncover the switches before they can be moved. However, multiple Boeing 737 operators found that the guard lock was not properly engaged.

This meant the switch could potentially be moved without lifting the guard, presenting a risk of accidental activation and inflight engine shutdown. It should be noted that, although the risk was present, no accidental inflight shutdowns had been recorded.