If I remember correctly, those switches need to be physically lifted up and rotated for the engines to switch from RUN to CUTOFF. there’s also physical guards there to prevent pilots from knocking them. here’s a diagram of the layout (source).
I’ve read theories that the pilot who manipulated the fuel switches could’ve mistook them for the stabiliser cutout switch but the switches are very different. the timing is also sus because it would’ve been at just the right time for things to have not been recoverable. 10 seconds earlier and the takeoff could’ve been aborted, 10 seconds later and the plane could’ve had enough altitude and speed to land in a safer area. also the way the pilot reacted to the other pilot suggests he saw the other pilot shut off the fuel to both engines one after the other and was in a state of shock
They lift up over a gate and you move them down to shut off, rather than turning. There’s no guard over them though. They’re not really close to any other switches you’d be manipulating at any time, especially right after takeoff, and they are a different shape than any other switch (Boeing likes to shape their switches differently so that if you grab the wrong one you’ll feel it). I cannot imagine how one could accidentally move one, let alone both switches do cutoff. But sometimes my brain does inexplicably dumb shit, so I dunno.
by guards I meant the guard brackets which help prevent accidental movement (source) but I agree I just can’t see this being done accidentally. the look and feel of the switches are just so different it’d be almost like mistaking a red light for a green one with normal colour vision or something. it’s still early days so i’m sure more will come out about the history of the pilots with time. if this does turn out to be intentional it’s pretty scary because it’s something that’s unrecoverable at that phase of flight if it happens and that needs to not happen again
Oh, ya, ok. Those guards are really more to stop you whacking the side of the switches and breaking the plastic lens and lightbulbs in the top of the switch, but because the switches move up and down and not side to side, those brackets really have no impact on the actual moving of the switches, accidental or otherwise.
If I remember correctly, those switches need to be physically lifted up and rotated for the engines to switch from RUN to CUTOFF. there’s also physical guards there to prevent pilots from knocking them. here’s a diagram of the layout (source).
I’ve read theories that the pilot who manipulated the fuel switches could’ve mistook them for the stabiliser cutout switch but the switches are very different. the timing is also sus because it would’ve been at just the right time for things to have not been recoverable. 10 seconds earlier and the takeoff could’ve been aborted, 10 seconds later and the plane could’ve had enough altitude and speed to land in a safer area. also the way the pilot reacted to the other pilot suggests he saw the other pilot shut off the fuel to both engines one after the other and was in a state of shock
They lift up over a gate and you move them down to shut off, rather than turning. There’s no guard over them though. They’re not really close to any other switches you’d be manipulating at any time, especially right after takeoff, and they are a different shape than any other switch (Boeing likes to shape their switches differently so that if you grab the wrong one you’ll feel it). I cannot imagine how one could accidentally move one, let alone both switches do cutoff. But sometimes my brain does inexplicably dumb shit, so I dunno.
by guards I meant the guard brackets which help prevent accidental movement (source) but I agree I just can’t see this being done accidentally. the look and feel of the switches are just so different it’d be almost like mistaking a red light for a green one with normal colour vision or something. it’s still early days so i’m sure more will come out about the history of the pilots with time. if this does turn out to be intentional it’s pretty scary because it’s something that’s unrecoverable at that phase of flight if it happens and that needs to not happen again
Oh, ya, ok. Those guards are really more to stop you whacking the side of the switches and breaking the plastic lens and lightbulbs in the top of the switch, but because the switches move up and down and not side to side, those brackets really have no impact on the actual moving of the switches, accidental or otherwise.