*

Crash of Boeing 787 killed 260 people last month

*

Pilots were experienced; unclear how fuel switches moved

*

One pilot asked the other why he cut off the fuel

(Adds co-pilot's father's comment in paragraph 16 and more

details from report in paragraphs 23-25)

By Allison Lampert, Aditya Kalra and Dan Catchpole

NEW DELHI, July 12 (Reuters) - A preliminary report

depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before an Air India

jetliner crashed and killed 260 people last month, after the

plane's engine fuel cutoff switches flipped almost

simultaneously and starved the engines of fuel.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London from the

Indian city of Ahmedabad began to lose thrust and sink shortly

after takeoff, according to the report on the world's deadliest

aviation accident in a decade released on Saturday by Indian

accident investigators.

The report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau

(AAIB) about the June 12 crash raises fresh questions over the

position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches.

Almost immediately after the plane lifted off the ground,

closed-circuit TV footage showed a backup energy source called a

ram air turbine had deployed, indicating a loss of power from

the engines.

In the flight's final moments, one pilot was heard on the

cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel.

"The other pilot responded that he did not do so," the report

said.

It did not identify which remarks were made by the flight's

captain and which by the first officer, nor which pilot

transmitted "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" just before the crash.

The commanding pilot of the Air India plane was Sumeet

Sabharwal, 56, who had a total flying experience of 15,638 hours

and, according to the Indian government, was also an Air India

instructor. His co-pilot was Clive Kunder, 32, who had 3,403

hours of total experience.

The fuel switches had almost simultaneously flipped from run

to cutoff just after takeoff. The preliminary report did not say

how the switches could have flipped to the cutoff position

during the flight.

The crash is a challenge for Tata Group's ambitious campaign

to restore Air India's reputation and revamp its fleet, after

taking the carrier over from the government in 2022.

Air India acknowledged the report in a statement. The

carrier said it was cooperating with Indian authorities but

declined further comment.

FUEL SWITCHES

Experts have said a pilot would not be able to accidentally

move the fuel switches.

"If they were moved because of a pilot, why?" asked U.S.

aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse.

The switches flipped a second apart, the report said,

roughly the time it would take to shift one and then the other,

according to U.S. aviation expert John Nance. He added that a

pilot would normally never turn the switches off in flight,

especially as the plane is starting to climb.

Flipping to cutoff almost immediately cuts the engines. It

is most often used to turn engines off once a plane has arrived

at its airport gate and in certain emergency situations, such as

an engine fire. The report does not indicate there was any

emergency requiring an engine cutoff.

At the crash site, both fuel switches were found in the run

position and there had been indications of both engines

relighting before the low-altitude crash, said the report, which

was released around 1:30 a.m. IST on Saturday (2000 GMT on

Friday).

Asked about the report, the father of first officer Kunder

told reporters "I am not from the airline", declining to comment

further during a prayer meeting held in the memory of the

airline's crew on Saturday in Mumbai, where emotional scenes

played out among grieving relatives.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board thanked Indian

officials for their cooperation in a statement and noted that

there were no recommended actions in the report aimed at

operators of Boeing 787 jets or the GE engines.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said its priority

was to follow the facts where they lead and it was committed to

promptly addressing any risks identified throughout the process.

Boeing ( BA ) said it continued to support the investigation and

its customer, Air India. GE Aerospace did not respond

immediately to a request for comment.

CRASH PROBE

The AAIB, an office under India's civil aviation ministry,

is leading the probe into the crash, which killed all but one of

the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground.

Most air crashes are caused by multiple factors, with a

preliminary report due 30 days after the accident, according to

international rules, and a final report expected within a year.

The plane's black boxes, combined cockpit voice recorders

and flight data recorders, were recovered in the days following

the crash and later downloaded in India.

The report said "all applicable airworthiness directives and

alert service bulletins were complied (with) on the aircraft as

well as engines."

The airport closed-circuit TV recording from Ahmedabad had

earlier shown the Air India plane rose to a height of 650 feet

after it took off, but then suddenly lost altitude, crashing in

a fireball into a nearby building.

The investigation report said as the Dreamliner lost

altitude, it initially made contact with several trees and an

incineration chimney, before hitting the building.

Air India has faced additional scrutiny on other fronts

after the crash.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said last week it

plans to investigate its budget airline, Air India Express,

after Reuters reported the carrier did not follow a directive to

change engine parts of an Airbus A320 in a timely manner and

falsified records to show compliance.

India is banking on a boom in aviation to support wider

development goals, with New Delhi saying it wants India to be a

job-creating global aviation hub along the lines of Dubai.