Attention has now shifted to the pilots' actions in the seconds after take-off, and to the fuel switches themselves.
The report made it clear that a momentary change in the position of the switches deprived the plane of fuel at a crucial stage, leading to the crash.
"In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," the report said.
Read here for the timeline of events in the cockpit.
Who were the pilots of the flight? Read about them here.
The switches flipped one second apart, the report added, roughly the time it would take to shift one and then the other, according to U.S. aviation expert and former pilot John Nance.
He added that a pilot would normally never turn the switches off in flight, especially when the plane is starting to climb.
The Airline Pilots' Association of India, in a statement, objected to the report's focus on the pilots.
"The tone and direction of the investigation suggest a bias toward pilot error. We categorically reject this presumption and insist on a fair, fact-based inquiry," the pilots' lobby said.
It also drew attention to a 2018 bulletin by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration related to fuel switches in the Boeing 737, which are similar to those in the 787. Reports from operators had indicated that "the fuel control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged".
The pilots' lobby called for clarity on whether the recommendations of the service bulletin were ever implemented.
The probe's preliminary report said the advisory on the fuel switches was not seen as indicating an unsafe condition that warranted specific instructions.
FAA and Boeing rejected suggestions that there were issues with the fuel switches.
On Sunday, The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing issued notifications that the fuel switch locks on Boeing planes were safe, citing documents and sources with knowledge of the matter.
The FAA's notification to Civil Aviation Authorities said: "Although the fuel control switch design, including the locking feature, is similar on various Boeing airplane models, the FAA does not consider this issue to be an unsafe condition that would warrant an Airworthiness Directive on any Boeing airplane models, including the Model 787."
In the meantime, authorities in India and South Korea have asked their airlines to examine fuel switches in accordance with the 2018 advisory.
What would you like to read about in the India File? Write to me at ira.dugal@thomsonreuters.com.
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