Thread: Air India crash

Originally Posted by Eevo

i've only got a recreational pilots licence (and ive not looked at any footage for longer than 5 seconds) but once the plane is in the air, shouldnt retracting the flaps just slow down the rate of assent? not cause a decent.

Which makes me wonder if it lost power, so the poor pilot had the gear down hoping to land it somewhere.

If it lost power there'd be no hydraulics to bring the gear up.

The gear was never retracted. but from that video it does suggest an engine failure is a possibility. But also it raises the possibility of something happening to the electrical or hydraulic systems, perhaps resulting from maintenance failures or manufacturing errors surfacing (such as incorrectly installed pipes or wiring that have eventually failed).

And if it was an engine failure, the question is why? In theory the aircraft can continue its takeoff with one engine failing at the most critical time, but with aircraft at maximum takeoff weight (likely on this flight) the safety margin is not all that large, and could be eroded to nothing by factors such as failure to retract u/c (whether pilot error or systems)and deviations from specified configuration such as flap settings, airspeeds, etc.

Double engine failure is extremely unlikely, with one possible reason I can think of - fuel contamination.

From what Juan has said this looks like being a complex investigation.

Originally Posted by BradC

If it lost power there'd be no hydraulics to bring the gear up.

That's what the RAT is for. However, if both engines failed the gear wasn't going to save them.

Also as Juan says, it's imperative there are answers sooner rather than later. The last thing the industry needs is more speculation re Boeing. As this seems to be the only 787 crash so far, I doubt it, but we all know how the media works. Search "Boeing 787" and the top hits are the Air India crash.

Originally Posted by Tins

I agree, Ron, but I'll stick with Juan. He is a pro and measures his responses, and retracts if/when he's wrong.

I believe he is an airline pilot so he knows his stuff. I haven’t yet watched his video.

Single engine failure looks unlikely, there is no yaw. As pointed out by JD, short of fuel contamination, a double failure is extremely remote.
Even with a fuel issue, the chance of both engines being affected precisely, simultaneously is almost unheard of.
Pure speculation, from one who has never flown a commercial plane, it could be that the flaps were retracted in error, instead of the gear.

That was my initial thought - it woud not be the first time that has happened - there are good reasons why most modern aircraft have the gear switch shaped like a wheel and the flap switch a flat plate. But if Juan is correct in diagnosing the RAT being deployed, it is not something that simple. Adding to this, is that the Indian airworthiness authorities have issued an urgent notice for all 787-9 &9s fitted with that GE engine have an engine inspection. I assume the notice has details of what is to be inspected, but have not heard what it is.

And as far as I can determine, this is the first fatal accident involving a Dreamliner.