switches

SACRAMENTO — Gun rights organizations filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new California law that bans certain types of Glock-style semiautomatic firearms.

The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week, prohibits the sale of semiautomatic pistols with a “cruciform trigger bar” — a feature that allows gun owners to attach a device, commonly called a switch, that boosts the weapon’s firepower and converts it into a machine gun capable of spraying dozens of bullets in a fraction of a second.

“Newsom and his gang of progressive politicians in California are continuing their crusade against constitutional rights,” John Commerford, executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. “They are attempting to violate landmark Supreme Court decisions and disarm law-abiding citizens by banning some of the most commonly owned handguns in America.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleges the law violates the 2nd Amendment. Plaintiffs include the NRA, Firearms Policy Coalition, and the Second Amendment Foundation, as well as some individuals and smaller businesses.

The legal action alleges that California’s new law essentially bans the sale of certain Glock-brand handguns and others with similar features that allow modification by owners.

“A law that bans the sale of — and correspondingly prevents citizens from acquiring — a weapon in common use violates the Second Amendment,” the lawsuit states. “Semiautomatic handguns with cruciform trigger bars are not different from any other type of semiautomatic handgun in a constitutionally relevant way. The Supreme Court has already held that handguns are in common use and cannot be banned.”

The lawsuit states the only justification for banning a firearm is when the weapon is “dangerous and unusual” and argues that semiautomatic pistols are neither.

“They are also unquestionably in common use for lawful purposes,” the lawsuit states. “In fact, they are among the most popular handguns in the nation.”

Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who introduced Assembly Bill 1127, said his bill was intended to help protect communities from gun violence.

“Automatic weapons are exceptionally lethal and capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute; they are illegal in California,” he told the Senate Public Safety Committee in July. “Unfortunately, some semiautomatic firearms feature a dangerous design element allowing them to be converted to automatic weapons through the attachment of an easy-to-use device known as a switch.”

Over the last few years, handguns retrofitted with switches were used in several prominent shootings in California, including the 2022 mass shooting in downtown Sacramento that left six people dead and a dozen injured.

Machine gun conversion switches are illegal in the United States and are mostly manufactured overseas. They also can be built at home using 3D printers. Instructions for installing one on a firearm can be found online and require little to no technical expertise.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reported a 570% increase in the number of conversion devices collected by police departments between 2017 and 2021, according to the Associated Press.

Two-time 400m hurdles world champion Femke Bol has announced she will switch events and compete in the 800m from next year.

Dutch superstar Bol, 25, who successfully defended her world title in Tokyo in September, has also won bronze medals at the past two Olympics in that discipline.

She has also been a world indoor champion in the flat 400m and is a renowned relay athlete, a gold medallist anchor leg runner with the Netherlands’ 4x400m team at Paris 2024.

In 2026, she will move up in distance to an event in which Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson is the reigning Olympic champion.

Bol said in a post on Instagram:, external “It’s a big change, it’s uncertain and challenging, but I’m ready to put in the work, surrounded by an amazing team and enjoy this new journey.”

Hodgkinson replied to the post, saying: “Can’t wait to share the start line.”

The front page of The Atlanta Constitution (L) — which later became The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — is on exhibit of newspaper front pages from 1969 highlighting the Apollo 11 moon landing at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on July 20, 2009. The 157-year-old newspaper will cease print editions beginning in 2026. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 28 (UPI) — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced Thursday it would no longer be printing paper editions of the newspaper and will instead focus only on its digital product, which is expected to see double-digit growth this year.

The newspaper, which has existed under various flags since 1868, will become a purely digital platform beginning Jan. 1, 2026, the AJC announced. President and Publisher Andrew Morse said the change will eliminate 30 full- and part-time jobs involved in producing the the physical newspaper.

The AJC reported it has invested “millions” in technology and new reporting techniques in an effort to modernize its product. As part of that investment, the AJC moved its offices back into Midtown Atlanta after operating for years in the suburbs and based reporters in Athens, Macon and Savannah.

The newspaper said it’s on track to increase digital subscriptions by 25% to 35% this year.

“We will begin the new year as a fully digital organization, committed, as always to being the most essential and engaging news source for the people of Atlanta, Georgia and the South,” Morse said in a letter to subscribers Thursday.

A Pew Research Center survey published in 2023 found that U.S. adults aren’t following the news as closely as previous years, and they’re increasingly eschewing traditional forms of media such as print newspapers, local TV news and public radio. Daily circulation rates in 2022 were less than 21 million across the country, down from a height of more than 60 million in the 1960s to 1990s.

Morse said the digital move was not enforced by the newspaper’s owner, Cox Enterprises.

Cox CEO Alex Taylor said the news organization is critical to the community.

“This change will allow us to reduce the use of trees, plastic, water and carbon, while at the same time increasing our focus on news gathering and public accountability,” Taylor said. “I’m proud of our team for making these decisions, as much as I will miss the nostalgia of seeing the paper in my driveway every morning.”

New details about last month’s Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people, have emerged this week, shifting focus onto the actions of the senior pilot during the last moments before the plane crashed.

According to a report published on Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal quoting sources close to United States officials’ early assessment of evidence, the black box audio recording of the last conversation between the two pilots indicates that the captain might have turned off the switches controlling the flow of fuel to the plane’s engines.

Last week, a preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found that both engines had shut down within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude, before the plane crashed into a densely populated suburb of Ahmedabad. However, that report, which stated the fuel-control switches had moved to the “cutoff” position, did not assign blame for the incident.

Two groups of commercial pilots have rejected suggestions that human error may have caused the disaster.

What happened to the Air India flight?

At 1:38pm (08:08 GMT) on June 12, Air India Flight 171 took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad for London Gatwick Airport, carrying 230 passengers, 10 cabin crew and two pilots.

About 40 seconds after taking off, both engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner lost power during the initial climb. The plane then crashed into the BJ Medical College Hostel in a populated suburb 1.85km (1.15 miles) from the runway.

The aircraft broke apart on impact, causing a fire that destroyed parts of five buildings. All the passengers on the plane died except one – Vishwaskumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origin. Some 19 people on the ground were killed as well, and 67 were injured.

What did the AAIB report say?

The AAIB is investigating the crash, the deadliest aviation incident in a decade, along with Boeing and experts from the US and United Kingdom. A preliminary report from the investigators released on Saturday found the aircraft had been deemed airworthy, had up-to-date maintenance and carried no hazardous cargo.

But the report noted that a 2018 US Federal Aviation Administration advisory warned of a potential flaw in the fuel-control switch system of some Boeing planes, including the Dreamliner. The report said Air India did not inspect the system and it was not mandatory for it to do so. During the crash, recovery systems activated, but only partial engine relight occurred, the report stated.

Both engines shut down just after takeoff as fuel switches moved from the “run” to “cutoff” positions. The report cited a black box audio recording in which one pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?” and the other denied doing so. The speakers were not identified.

Despite taking emergency measures, only one engine partially restarted, and moments before impact, a “Mayday” call was issued before communications were lost.

Air traffic control received no response after the distress call but saw the aircraft crash outside the boundary of the airport. CCTV footage from the airport showed one of the flight recovery systems – known as the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) – deploying shortly after liftoff, followed by a rapid descent.

Who were the pilots?

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, served as the pilot-in-command on the flight. A soft-spoken veteran who had logged more than 15,600 flight hours, 8,500 of them on the Boeing 787, Sabharwal was known for his reserved nature, meticulous habits and mentorship of junior pilots.

He trained at India’s premier aviation school, the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, and friends who spoke to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recalled him as deeply committed to his career as a pilot as well as caring for his ageing father, a former civil aviation official.

First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, was the pilot flying the aircraft at the time of the crash while Sabharwal was the pilot monitoring.

Kunder had accumulated more than 3,400 flying hours, including 1,128 hours on the Dreamliner. Flying was his childhood dream, inspired by his mother’s 30-year career as an Air India flight attendant.

At age 19, he trained in the US and earned a commercial pilot’s licence before returning to India to join Air India in 2017.

Described by family and friends in the WSJ as joyful, curious and tech-savvy, Kunder was said to be passionate about aviation and excited to be flying the 787.

What has emerged this week?

According to US officials who examined evidence from the crash and were quoted by the WSJ, the cockpit voice recording suggests it was Sabharwal who may have moved the fuel control switches to “cutoff” after takeoff, an action that cut power to both engines.

The switches were turned back on within seconds, but it was too late to regain full thrust.

As the flying pilot, Kunder would have been occupied with the climb-out, making it unlikely he could have manipulated the switches, according to unnamed US pilots quoted by the WSJ. Sabharwal, as the monitoring pilot, would have had a freer hand, they said.

What are the fuel-control switches?

Located on a key cockpit panel just behind the throttle levers between the two pilot seats, these switches manage the flow of fuel to each of the aircraft’s two engines.

Pilots use these fuel cutoff switches to start or shut down the engines while on the ground. In flight, the pilots can manually shut down or restart an engine in the event of a failure.

How do fuel-control switches work?

The switches are designed for manual operation. They are spring-loaded to stay firmly in place and cannot be moved accidentally or with light pressure during flight operations.

The switches have two settings: “cutoff” and “run”. The “cutoff” mode stops fuel from reaching the engines while “run” allows normal fuel flow. To change positions, a pilot must first pull the switch upwards before shifting it between “run” and “cutoff”.

Could the crash have been caused by human error?

Experts are cautious about this. US aviation analyst Mary Schiavo told the Financial Express in India that people should not draw premature conclusions, arguing that there is as yet no definitive evidence of pilot error.

She highlighted a similar incident during which one of the engines suddenly shut down midflight on an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 during its final approach to Osaka, Japan, in 2019.

Investigators later found that the aircraft’s software had mistakenly interpreted the plane as being on the ground, triggering the thrust control malfunction accommodation system, which automatically moved the fuel switch from “run” to “cutoff” without any action from the pilots.

Schiavo warned that a similar malfunction cannot yet be ruled out in the Air India crash and stressed the importance of releasing the full cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript to avoid misleading interpretations.

“There is nothing here to suggest pilot suicide or murder,” she said. “The voices, words and sounds on CVRs must be carefully analysed.”

India’s Federation of Indian Pilots criticised the framing of the preliminary findings in the media this week.

In a public statement, the federation noted that the report relies heavily on paraphrased CVR excerpts and lacks comprehensive data.

“Assigning blame before a transparent, data-driven investigation is both premature and irresponsible,”  the statement read before adding that it undermines the professionalism of the crew and causes undue distress to their families.

Campbell Wilson, chief executive of Air India, this week urged staff not to make premature conclusions about the causes of the crash, telling them this week that the investigation was “far from over”.

India’s aviation agency tells airlines to investigate fuel switch locks on several Boeing models, including 787s and 737s.

India has ordered its airlines to examine fuel switches on several Boeing models following last month’s deadly Air India crash.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday said it asked the airlines to investigate fuel switch locks on several Boeing models, including 787s and 737s.

The precautionary moves by India and several other countries came despite the plane maker and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) telling airlines and regulators in recent days that the fuel switch locks on Boeing jets were safe.

The locks have come under scrutiny following the June 12 crash of an Air India jet, which killed some 260 people – the worst such disaster on Indian soil.

A preliminary report on the crash by Indian authorities did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the disaster, but indicated that one pilot asked the other why he cut off fuel, and the second pilot responded that he had not.

The report noted a 2018 advisory from the FAA, which recommended, but did not mandate, operators of several Boeing models, including the 787, to inspect the locking feature of fuel cutoff switches to ensure they could not be moved accidentally.

In recent days, the Air India Group started checking the locking mechanism on the fuel switches of its 787 and 737 fleets and has discovered no problems yet, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency on Monday.

About half the group’s 787s have been inspected and nearly all its 737s, the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity since the source was not authorised to speak to the media. Inspections were set to be completed in the next day or two.

Precautionary checks

The Air India crash preliminary report said the airline had not carried out the FAA’s suggested inspections, as the FAA’s 2018 advisory was not a mandate.

But it also said maintenance records showed that the throttle control module, which includes the fuel switches, was replaced in 2019 and 2023 on the plane involved in the crash.

In an internal memo on Monday, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out.

Some airlines around the world have been checking relevant switches since the 2018 advisory, including Australia’s Qantas Airways and Japan’s ANA.

Others said they had been making additional or new checks since the release of the preliminary report into the Air India crash.

Singapore Airlines said on Tuesday that precautionary checks on the fuel switches of its 787 fleet, including planes used by its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, confirmed all were functioning properly.

Flag carrier Korean Air Lines also said on Tuesday it had proactively begun inspecting fuel control switches and would implement any additional requirements the Ministry of Transport may have.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was headed to London from Ahmedabad in western India when it crashed, killing all but one of the people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.

Preliminary investigation does not apportion blame for Boeing 787 crash that killed 260 people in June.

Fuel control switches to the engines of an Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff last month were moved from the “run” to the “cutoff” position moments before impact, according to a preliminary report.

The report, issued by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) early on Saturday, did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the June 12 disaster that killed 260 people in the plane and on the ground, but said the shift occurred three seconds after takeoff.

After the switches flipped, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner immediately began to lose thrust and sink down, according to the report.

One pilot can be 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 preliminary report also does not say how the switch could have flipped to the cutoff position on the London-bound flight from the Indian city of Ahmedabad.

United States aviation safety expert John Cox said a pilot would not be able to accidentally move the fuel switches that feed the engines.

“You can’t bump them and they move,” he told the Reuters news agency.

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 this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to Boeing 787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers,” India’s AAIB said.

There were 242 people on board the plane, including passengers and crew. Only one, Viswashkumar Ramesh, survived.

The plane crashed in a residential area called Meghani Nagar, and 19 people on the ground were also killed.

The AAIB, an office under India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, is leading the probe into the world’s deadliest aviation accident in a decade.