More than two weeks after the catastrophic crash of an Air India Boeing 787, attention is intensifying around the possibility of a dual engine failure.
The Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol has said that sabotage is one of the possibilities, which will be examined in the ongoing investigation.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) began a comprehensive analysis of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR), collectively known as the black boxes, recovered from the crash site and sent for examination.
Additionally, Air India pilots have conducted simulations of the star-crossed flight’s conditions in a simulator. They have tested scenarios with extended landing gear and retracted wing flaps. Reports, citing investigation quoted in a Bloomberg report, revealed
that these configurations alone would not have resulted in a crash.
Other crucial technical findings are beginning to emerge. Other reports claimed that investigators have confirmed that a Ram Air Turbine (RAT) had deployed just seconds before impact. This emergency turbine, which activates during a power failure, provides limited electrical power to critical systems—but it’s vastly insufficient to keep the aircraft in the air. That deployment strongly points to a sudden and catastrophic loss of electrical power and possible engine failure.
To add to the growing evidence, analysis of the wreckage showed that the aircraft’s wing flaps and slats were extended correctly—ruling out pilot error in flap configuration during takeoff. It has emerged that the pilots managed to send out a Mayday signal just moments after liftoff, with a mere 15 seconds between the distress call and impact—a terrifyingly short window in which almost nothing could be done.
Compounding the mystery, pilots reviewing the crash footage noticed the aircraft’s landing gear was partially tilted forward, suggesting the retraction sequence had begun. However, the gear doors had not opened, a potential sign of hydraulic or power failure, which again raises disturbing questions about whether both engines may have simultaneously shut down.
The Boeing 787’s engines are governed by an advanced digital control system known as Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC).
More evidence is required to ascertain how both the engines have failed at the same time, investigators are painstakingly combing through data from the two recovered flight recorders, whose readouts are currently under analysis.
Boeing and the US National Transportation Safety Board teams have been deployed to support the investigation, which continues to explore a wide range of potential causes, though the focus has narrowed sharply to possible technical faults.
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