Air India Crash Report Confirms Fuel Was Cut Off Before Accident
印度航空空難報告證實，飛機墜毀前燃料被切斷了

In a preliminary report released Friday, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said both switches that control the flow of fuel to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s two engines were switched off once the aircraft reached a speed of 180 knots, just seconds after lifting off the ground.
印度飛機事故調查局在週五發布的初步報告中提到，這架 Boeing 787 Dreamliner 的兩個引擎燃油控制開關，在飛機達到 180 節的速度時，也就是剛離地幾秒鐘後，就被關掉了。

The report said the switches went from “run” to “cutoff” one after another, with a second’s time in between. The move cut the engine’s fuel supply.
報告說，這兩個開關從「運轉」切到「關閉」，中間只隔了一秒鐘。這個動作切斷了引擎的燃油供應。

There was also apparent confusion about the situation between pilots in the cockpit. 
駕駛艙裡的飛行員之間，對當時的情況似乎也有點搞不清楚。

“In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff,” the report said. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so.”
報告說：「在駕駛艙語音紀錄裡，聽到其中一名飛行員問另一名為什麼要切斷（燃油）。」 「另一名飛行員回答說他沒有這麼做。」

About 10 seconds later, both fuel-cutoff switches were turned back on. But the engines couldn’t apparently fully restart and regain thrust fast enough. 
大約 10 秒後，兩個燃油切斷開關又被打開了。但引擎顯然沒辦法完全重新啟動並快速恢復推力。

“If they would have had another few hundred feet of altitude or another 20 seconds of time, those engines would have relit, began to produce thrust and they could have not impacted the ground,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a former U.S. senior accident investigator. “But they just didn’t have enough time or altitude to recover.”
「如果當時他們能再高個幾百英尺，或是再多個 20 秒的時間，那些引擎就會重新點燃，開始產生推力，他們就不會撞到地面了，」前美國資深事故調查員 Jeff Guzzetti 說。「但他們就是沒有足夠的時間或高度來挽回。」

Another approximately 10 seconds passed, and one of the pilots called out on the radio: “Mayday mayday mayday.”
又過了大概 10 秒，其中一位飛行員在無線電裡喊著：「Mayday mayday mayday。」

Air-traffic controllers reached out but didn’t get a response and saw the plane crash nearby. The report said the fuel-control switches were found in the “run,” or on position, in the crash wreckage.
航管人員試圖聯繫，但沒收到回應，然後就看到飛機在附近墜毀了。報告說，在墜機殘骸裡找到的燃油控制開關，當時是撥在「run」（運轉）或說「on」（開啟）的位置。

The AAIB’s preliminary report didn’t reach any final conclusions about what factors led to the accident, or why the fuel switches might have been turned off. It left unanswered whether an accident or intentional act led to the switch movement.
AAIB 的初步報告沒有對導致這起事故的因素，或是為什麼燃油開關會被關掉做出最終結論。報告沒有說明是意外還是人為導致開關被動到。

The crash of the London-bound jet killed all but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board, as well as several people on the ground where the plane slammed into a residential area beyond the airport in Ahmedabad.
這架飛往倫敦的班機墜毀，機上 242 名乘客和機組人員只有一人倖存，飛機墜落在 Ahmedabad 機場外的住宅區，也造成地面上數人死亡。

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that preliminary findings from the Indian-led probe indicated the fuel switches had been turned off at some point before the crash. 
《華爾街日報》先前報導，由印度主導的初步調查發現，燃油開關在墜機前某個時間點被關閉了。

It said there aren’t any recommendations for Boeing, engine-maker GE Aerospace or operators of the aircraft at this stage of the investigation.
報告說，目前調查階段，對於 Boeing、引擎製造商 GE Aerospace 或是飛機營運商，都還沒有提出任何建議。

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which certified the Dreamliner’s design as safe for passenger service, said it was “committed to promptly addressing any risks identified throughout the process.”
美國聯邦航空總署（U.S. Federal Aviation Administration）之前認證過 Dreamliner 的設計對載客服務是安全的，他們表示「會盡快處理整個過程中發現的任何風險」。

U.S. pilots who fly the 787 said the fuel-control switches would be difficult to move by accident. Pilots use the switches to start engines, shut them down or quickly restart them in certain emergencies.  
飛 787 的美國飛行員說，燃油控制開關不太可能意外被撥動。飛行員用這些開關來啟動引擎、關閉引擎，或是在某些緊急狀況下快速重啟引擎。

“They have a guard that protects them physically and then each switch itself has a mechanical mechanism where you don’t just flick it, you have to kind of pull it up and then flick it,” Guzzetti said. “These switches are designed not to be able to be moved easily.”
Guzzetti 說：「它們有物理保護罩，而且每個開關本身都有機械裝置，你不能直接撥動，得先往上拉一下才能撥動。」他接著說：「這些開關的設計就是不容易被誤觸。」

But the report raises the possibility of a potential issue with a locking feature for fuel-control switches, though its connection to the accident investigation wasn’t immediately clear. 
不過報告也提到，燃油控制開關的鎖定功能可能有點問題，雖然這跟事故調查的關聯性還不是很明確啦。

The report notes that the FAA in 2018 issued a bulletin about “potential disengagement” of such features on 737s, a different and smaller model of Boeing airplanes.
報告裡有提到，FAA 在 2018 年就針對波音另一款比較小型的 737 機型，發布過一份公告，警告這些功能「可能會意外解除」。

The report said the locking mechanism was similar on various Boeing models, including certain 787s. The report said Air India didn’t inspect its planes’ switches because the FAA advisory wasn’t mandatory. It also said the accident aircraft’s throttle control module had twice been replaced for reasons unrelated to the fuel-control switch. 
報告說，這個鎖定機制在好幾款 Boeing 機型上都差不多，連某些 787 也是。報告還提到，Air India 沒有檢查他們飛機上的開關，因為 FAA 的建議不是強制性的。另外，報告也說，失事飛機的油門控制模組之前換過兩次，但跟燃油控制開關沒關係。

Indian authorities said they had tested fuel samples, examined crash-site wreckage and were analyzing data from the plane’s black boxes.
印度當局說，他們已經檢測了燃油樣本，檢查了墜機現場的殘骸，而且正在分析飛機黑盒子的數據。

An Air India spokesman said the airline was fully cooperating with authorities investigating the June 12 accident but declined to comment on details in the report.
Air India 的發言人說，他們公司正全力配合調查 6 月 12 日那起事故的相關單位，但對於報告裡的細節，他們就沒多說什麼了。

Write to Andrew Tangel at andrew.tangel@wsj.com
請寫信給 Andrew Tangel，信箱是 andrew.tangel@wsj.com