Air India captain ‘cut off’ fuel before fatal crash, US officials say

Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, is thought to have flipped the aircraft’s fuel control switches to “cut-off” moments before the jet crashed into a medical student hostel, in June.

Clive Kunder, the first officer, who was flying the Boeing 787-9, questioned why the captain had moved switched to the cut-off position, according to a US assessment of the black box data.

A preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found that switches controlling fuel flow to the jet’s two engines were turned off, resulting in a catastrophic loss of thrust at take-off.

It revealed one of the pilots asked the other why “did you cut off” the fuel supply in the recovered cockpit voice recording. The other pilot responded that he “didn’t”.