Flight to Gatwick crashes near airport in Ahmedabad, India,

The human brain can sometimes act very strangely. An example of this is the Moorgate Tube Crash, where the driver could have been in some trance like state. Some people believe that was a suicide too.

In this case, it happened in one of the most stressful parts of the flight.

I've sometimes done odd things without realising, and I'm sure most other people have too.

Fire, as mentioned above. Or a fuel leak, or other problem with an engine.

Thanks for the various answers. So it's a little bit like the key or ignition switch of a car? How come it's located so near the key controls? I have no idea of why it's there but as a person with no clue I'd have thought logic would imply that an on/off switch would be put elsewhere?

Apparently they do change their position, without deliberate action.

I'm sure you have some relevant examples to share, preferably involving planes in flight?

I have nothing but what was posted here, that referred to fact they can disengage

''

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had issued Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) No. NM-18-33 on December 17, 2018, warning of the potential disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature''

……..He's adamant it was one of the pilots

Could one of them have been brainwashed by Al Quada or them other ones that were around a few years ago cutting people's heads off. Don't remind me. I have forgot there name and don't want it back in my head. They were bad people. Maybe they told him if he killed so many he would go to heaven or whatever.

That's not what it says! It says that the locking feature can potentially disengage, meaning that the switch becomes easier to be switched into the cutoff position, but that doesn't mean it can go into that position by itself.

If you want, it's somehow like the Reverse lock on your gearshift lever, even it that fails your car doesn't randomly go into reverse, you still need to shift it.

I think it's time to accept this for what it is.

We may never know. Maybe like after MH380 they will or are going through both pilots social media to see were they in touch with Al Quada or some other terrorist group.

Could it be an absolute cognitive lapse on a giant scale,

'' gear up ''

instead turns off fuel

I know it was mentioned gear never went up, at a time it was normal to do so, instead fuel was shut off

I think they usually call out 'gear up' and there's no mention of it in the report.

The timeline is:
00:08:39 Take off
00:08:42 One cut off switches activated
00:08:43 Second one switched off
Conversation with the pilot asking why he done it etc….
00:08:52 One switched back on
00:08:56 Second switched back on

There's no time reference for the conversation so obviously the pilot didn't ask why the other one switched the fuel off and then waited a whole 9 seconds to switch it back on. I assume there was a lot of confusion. Same reason for the 4 second gap between turning each one back on. I'd guess it's hard to do while holding the yolk.

He's not going to admit it, if he switched it off.
What's gets to me (if it was pilot suicide) is there's still a risk that the pilots could have survived or the entire plane (if the fuel switches were put back quicker or cut off later etc…) I won't speak to what goes into people minds that want to commit suicide, but I'd imagine they want some control of it.

I just want it to be anything other than pilot suicide. A technical fault, when found makes flying safer for the future, even human error can be worked on and procedures put in place to mitigate it. Parts and procedures don't actively try to circumvent the safety procedures like pilot suicide, terrorism or sabotage do.

And on the subject of video surveillance why are commercial aircraft not fitted with multiple cameras to monitor all engines and controls surfaces that are outside the view of those on the flight deck. The idea of a member of the crew walking down the aisle and looking out to see which engine is not working sounds absurd and comical and in some cases tragic.
If every Dublin bus is fitted with twelve cameras why is every commercial aircraft not.

Much has been made of the cutoff switches, and the fact that they need to be manually pulled out then pushed down to cutoff. Visions of pulling out the switches one by one (thumb & 1st finger) with some effort due to spring loading. That's what I visualised.

Just watched a cockpit video on Indian TV where the host discussed the cutoff switches with a pilot who flicked them off with minimum effort, (very very light springs) just a gentle pull out then down, 'flick flick' hardly any effort at all and both engines are cut off.

Is it too easy to turn off the engines?