Let’s find out:What are fuel switches?Fuel switches control the flow of fuel into an aircraft’s engines.Pilots use them to start or stop the engines while on the ground, or to manually cut off or restart them if there is an engine issue during flight.According to aviation experts, it is unlikely that a pilot could move these switches by mistake, reports said.Thrust Lever Quadrant & Fuel Control Switch of the doomed Air India planeEach switch is protected by brackets on either side and fitted with a stop lock. This means the switch must be lifted before it can be moved between its two settings: RUN and CUTOFF.If a switch is moved, it would immediately cut off fuel to the engine, causing it to lose power.US aviation safety expert John Cox told Reuters that these switches and the valves they control are powered and wired separately. This system ensures that if a switch is used, it directly affects only the engine it is linked to.A pilot would need to use these switches during flight only if an engine failed or was damaged badly enough that stopping its fuel supply became necessary for safety, The Indian Express reported.Where are the fuel switches located?In a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the are placed just beneath the engine thrust levers on the cockpit’s centre console.Air India’s Dreamliners, which are powered by GE engines, have two such switches, one for each engine.The switches are spring-loaded so they stay in place. They operate in two modes: RUN and CUTOFF.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADTo shift a switch from RUN to CUTOFF, a pilot must first lift it and then move it. This added step helps prevent it from being moved by accident.What happens when fuel cutoff switches flip from run to cutoff?Soon after takeoff, both fuel switches were found to have flipped from run to cutoff within a second of each other. The preliminary report does not explain how this could have happened while the plane was in the air.The report said that if the switches are moved from cutoff to run during flight, each engine’s system begins an automatic restart, reintroducing fuel and ignition to recover thrust.Aviation experts have said that it is highly unlikely for a pilot to move these switches by accident, Reuters reported.“If they were moved because of a pilot, why?” US aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse told the news agency.According to US aviation expert John Nance, the switches flipped one after the other, a second apart, about the time needed to move one and then the other. He added that a pilot would almost never switch them off during the early climb.Flipping the switches to cutoff causes the engines to shut down almost immediately. This action is typically taken after landing when the aircraft has reached its gate or in emergencies like an engine fire. The report does not mention any such emergency during the flight.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADAt the crash site, both switches were found in the run position. The report also mentioned signs that the engines had restarted shortly before the aircraft hit the ground.‘Why did you cut off fuel?’Switching the fuel cutoff to ‘cut-off’ is normally done only after the plane has landed.The cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot asking the other, “Why did you cut off?”, to which the reply was a denial.The Air India flight that crashed on June 12 in Ahmedabad was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Reuters/File PhotoThe recording does not clearly show who said what. At the time, the co-pilot was in control of the aircraft, while the captain was monitoring.Investigators pointed out that the switches are fitted with lever-locks to prevent unintentional use. These must be pulled up before being moved.A Canada-based air accident investigator told BBC, “It would be almost impossible to pull both switches with a single movement of one hand, and this makes accidental deployment unlikely.”The Air India flight that crashed on June 12 in Ahmedabad was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.The accident killed at least 260 people, including 19 people on the ground. Just one passenger survived, making it one of the worst air disasters in India’s history.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADWith inputs from agenciesTagsair india, Engine fuel control switches are at the centre of the investigation into last month’s Air India plane crash, the preliminary report has revealed. After the aircraft reached its top speed of 180 knots IAS, both engine fuel cutoff switches moved from ‘RUN’ to ‘CUTOFF’ within a second. The plane started losing altitude before it could clear the airport’s boundary wall. The pilots then , Fuel to the engines of the Air India plane involved in a deadly crash was cut off moments after takeoff, a preliminary report has found. In recovered cockpit voice recordings, the report said one .