By Mihir Mishra
More than two weeks after the deadly crash of an Air India plane that killed all but one of the 242 people on board, investigators and the airline are studying possible dual engine failure as a scenario that prevented the Boeing 787 jet from staying airborne.
The airliner came down moments after taking off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12. Video footage showed it struggling to gain altitude and sinking back to the ground, where it hit buildings and exploded. Nineteen people were killed on the ground.
Air India pilots re-enacted the doomed aircraft’s parameters in a flight simulator, including with the landing gear deployed and the wing flaps retracted, and found those settings alone didn’t cause a crash, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The result, alongside the previous discovery that an emergency-power turbine deployed seconds before impact, has reinforced the focus on a technical failure as one possible cause, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public deliberations.
The simulated flight was conducted separately from the official probe being led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and was done to explore possible scenarios, one of the people said.
Additional clues
The Boeing 787 was powered by two General Electric (GE) engines. Boeing declined to comment and deferred any questions to the AAIB, while GE said it could not comment on an active investigation.
The Boeing Dreamliner was filmed shortly after take-off descending and crashing into a residential area.Credit: The Age
The AAIB and Air India did not respond to a request for comment.
Whether or why both engines would have simultaneously lost power remains unknown, but investigators will seek additional clues from the two flight recorders, from which data has been extracted and is being analysed.
The investigation was exploring a wide range of scenarios, though a closer focus was on technical issues, the people said.
Pilots who reviewed the footage have noted that the landing gear was already partially tilted forward, suggesting the cockpit crew had initiated the wheel retraction sequence.
At the same time, the landing gear doors had not opened, which pilots say might mean that the aircraft experienced a loss of power or a hydraulic failure, again pointing to possible issues with the engines that provide the aircraft’s electricity.
The engines of modern aircraft are computer-controlled using a system called Full Authority Digital Engine Control, or FADEC, which helps pilots control an aircraft’s power and makes sure the engines are used efficiently and not outside their operating limits.
An emergency turbine, called the RAT, which deploys from the back of the aircraft in the case of electrical failure, was activated before the plane crashed, according to previous findings.
That fan helps provide the aircraft with vital power, though it’s far too small to generate any lift.
Fifteen seconds
Analysis of the wreckage suggests the wing flaps and slats, which help an aircraft increase lift during takeoff, were extended correctly.
The crash ranks as the worst accident in Indian civil aviation in several decades, and it’s the first time that a Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been lost to an accident.
The pilots, who died in the crash, sent out a mayday signal shortly after takeoff. There were only about 15 seconds between the distress call and impact, two people familiar with the investigation said.
Teams from Boeing and the US National Transportation Safety Board are supporting the investigation on the ground.
It’s unknown when authorities will give an update on the flight recorder data, which typically provides a comprehensive analysis of an aircraft’s settings and performance metrics as well as conversations in the cockpit.
Bloomberg
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