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Faulty fuel cutoff switch allegedly caused plane to become a "250,000-pound lawn dart"
The families of four passengers who died in the catastrophic crash of Air India Flight 171 have filed a product defect and negligence lawsuit against The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) and Honeywell International (NASDAQ:HON). The lawsuit alleges a faulty fuel cutoff switch led to the crash that killed 242 people aboard the aircraft and 19 more on the ground shortly after takeoff from the international airport in Ahmedabad, India, in June of this year.
Video of the attorney discussing the case available for use here.
According to the lawsuit, filed in Delaware Superior Court, flight data indicates that an Air India pilot accidentally shut off fuel to the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner's engines, causing a complete loss of thrust necessary to complete the takeoff. The fuel cutoff switch, manufactured by Honeywell and installed by Boeing, is designed with a locking mechanism to prevent unintended cutoff of fuel supply to the engines mid-flight.
But the lawsuit says these switches are installed in a "high traffic" location immediately behind and adjacent to the thrust levers that pilots continuously manipulate during takeoff. In addition, documents show that both Honeywell and Boeing knew the locking mechanism could easily be turned off inadvertently or could be missing altogether.
That assertion is supported by a 2018 Federal Aviation Administration report confirming that Boeing and Honeywell were aware that switches were being delivered on the aircraft with the locking mechanism disengaged, allowing for "unintended" fuel cutoff mid-flight. However, there is no evidence that the companies alerted Air India or other customers that the switches must be inspected and repaired for passenger safety and did not ship replacement switches to those airlines for installation.
