A black-box recording of dialogue between the flight’s two pilots indicates it was the captain who turned off switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane’s two engines, according to people familiar with U.S. officials’ early assessment of evidence uncovered in the crash investigation.

The first officer who was flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner asked the more-experienced captain why he moved the switches to the “cutoff” position after it climbed off the runway, these people said. The first officer expressed surprise and then panicked, these people said, while the captain seemed to remain calm.

A preliminary report of the probe released last week summarized the exchange but didn’t identify which pilot said what. The report, by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, said one pilot asked the other why he moved the switches, while the other denied doing so.

Details in the preliminary report also suggest it was the captain who turned off the switches, according to people familiar with the matter, U.S. pilots and safety experts tracking the probe. The report didn’t say whether turning off the switches might have been accidental or deliberate.

The new details could add to understanding the sequence of events that led to the June 12 tragedy, and the actions of the pilots, both of whom grew up with dreams of flying. The captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, was a decadeslong veteran, while the first officer, Clive Kunder, was in his early 30s and eager for the next stage of his career, friends and family members said.

As the pilot actively flying, Kunder likely would have had his hands full pulling back on the Dreamliner’s controls at that stage of the flight, according to U.S. pilots who have read the Indian authorities’ report. Sabharwal, as the pilot monitoring, would have been more likely to have had his hands free as he oversaw the operation.

The switches were moved in succession, one second apart, according to the report. About 10 seconds later, both switches were turned back on. The plane crashed near the Ahmedabad airport, killing all but one of the 242 on board.

The preliminary details have fueled the belief among some U.S. officials that criminal authorities should review the matter, as would likely be the case if the crash had occurred on American soil, people familiar with the matter said. In the U.S., accident investigators historically have involved agencies such as the FBI if they believe a potential crime occurred, rather than a safety mishap.

The Indian authorities’ preliminary report didn’t reach any conclusions about what led to the crash, or why the fuel switches were turned off. The report didn’t rule out possible design flaws, malfunctions or maintenance issues, and it noted the involvement of aviation medicine and psychology experts in the investigation.

Campbell Wilson, chief executive of Air India, this week urged the airline’s staff to avoid drawing premature conclusions about the crash, and said that the investigation was “far from over.” An Air India representative said the airline continues to cooperate with the probe.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5751355&forum_id=2...id#49108764)