'Very Rare' Dual-Engine Failure Caused Air India Plane Crash? This Expert's Theory Can't Be Missed
The Thursday Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad has sent shockwaves in the aviation industry alongside various stakeholders as experts find it hard to accept a dual-engine failure as the probable reason behind the tragedy.
The AI171 involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhai International Airport for London Gatwick but crashed just seconds later into a BJ Medical College campus.
The plane had 242 people on board but only one survivor. At least 272 people have died in the tragedy which includes people onboard, junior doctors from the college hostel and residents on the ground.
Experts in the aviation industry have been racing to find the root cause with many suggesting a "very rare" double-engine failure.
While the official investigation is underway involving Indian investigators, who would joined by experts from the US and UK, this expert's analysis of the plane's last minutes is too convincing to be given a miss.
Was It Dual-Engine Failure?
Captain Steve, a former pilot and an aviation expert, re-visited the viral video on his YouTube channel 'Captain Steeeve' where the AI171 aircraft was seen cruising down before bursting into a huge ball of flame.
While the video that went viral was apparently played on a mobile and shot by another medium, Steve accessed the original footage for analysis.
In the video, the ex-pilot points towards a seemingly tiny object, suggesting it to be the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), which is deployed particularly during a flight emergency. Steve explained that the purpose of a two-blade RAT propeller, specifically in a 787 aircraft, is to provide electrical and hydraulic pressure for the aircraft in extreme emergencies. The RAT is placed just behind the wing on the right side, held by a little door.
He further said that a RAT is deployed automatically in a 787 during these situations: electrical failure, massive hydraulic failure, and dual-engine failure.
Was The RAT Deployed?
Steve provides three clues to suggest that RAT was deployed and that the probable cause for the crash was indeed the dual-engine failure. First he gives the visual clue, of a tiny object that came out of a shaft that holds the propeller.
Next, he gives an aural clue of the RAT being employed. He plays the video three times to suggest that the noise from the aircraft sounded "like a propeller going" as a propeller plane would make. "If you weren't looking at it, it sounded like a single-engine propeller plane just flew by," he says.
Third, he takes into account the lone survivor, Ramesh Viswashkumar's testimony who narrated the horrific incident. Steve stresses on Ramesh's account where he said that he heard a loud noise and saw lights flickering within the aircraft before it crashed. The aviation expert corroborates it with the RAT's depolyment at the time of a hydraulic or an electrical emergency.
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