Air India Jet Bound for the UK has crashed on take off...242 on board

[hollydolly]

An aviation expert believes the co-pilot on Air India flight AI171 pulled the plane's wing flaps instead of retracting the landing gear, causing the plane to crash.

Commercial airline pilot and YouTuber Captain Steve, who analyzes plane crashes and close calls, gave his theory on the incident which killed 241 people on board.

Commercial airline pilot and YouTuber Captain Steve, who analyzes plane crashes and close calls, gave his theory on the incident which killed 241 people on board




Steve said he suspected there had been an exceptionally simple error in the cockpit when the co-pilot was asked to retract the landing gear, with devastating consequences.

He said: 'Here's what I think happened, again folks this is just my opinion. I think the pilot flying said to the co-pilot said 'gear up' at the appropriate time.

'I think the co-pilot grabbed the flap handle and raised the flaps, instead of the gear. If that happened, this explains a lot of why this airplane stopped flying.'

Steve said that the flaps being raised would cause the flight to lose airspeed and altitude quickly, something he thinks the pilot would have struggled to control.

He explained his theory by saying the 787's composite wings would normally bend during take off as lift forces take it into the air.

But the Air India plane appears to show no such bending, amid widespread speculation the flaps which help lift the plane off had accidentally been retracted.

Co-Pilot

 

[Tish]

Absolutely heartbreaking.

 

[oldman]

I really don’t know what’s considered old for a plane either but I bet @oldman knows. It’s really heartbreaking. Intellectually I know it’s the safest way to travel but I really hate flying now for many reasons.

It’s really not about the age of the aircraft that determines when it is removed from service. Instead, the number of pressurizations, meaning the number of times when the plane has been readied for takeoff and the pilot pressurizes the fuselage and as the plane ascends the pressurization is increased. When the plane has descended for landing, the pressurization is, of course, decreased. This is counted as one pressurization.

To make this all sound simpler, if I were to say each takeoff and landing is one pressurization would mostly be correct. As an example, the Boeing 737 usually goes through around 70,000 pressurizations before being retired. The 787 that crashed goes only about 44,000 pressurizations. Why? Because the newer planes are made with composite materials and take less expansions and retractions, which is what a pressurization is.

If you would see what happens during a pressurization, it would make you shake your head. When the plane is pressurized, it looks like a balloon being blown open and when it’s depressurized, it would look like the air is being let out of the balloon

I hope I haven’t confused anyone.

 

[oldman]

An aviation expert believes the co-pilot on Air India flight AI171 pulled the plane's wing flaps instead of retracting the landing gear, causing the plane to crash.

Commercial airline pilot and YouTuber Captain Steve, who analyzes plane crashes and close calls, gave his theory on the incident which killed 241 people on board.

Commercial airline pilot and YouTuber Captain Steve, who analyzes plane crashes and close calls, gave his theory on the incident which killed 241 people on board




Steve said he suspected there had been an exceptionally simple error in the cockpit when the co-pilot was asked to retract the landing gear, with devastating consequences.

He said: 'Here's what I think happened, again folks this is just my opinion. I think the pilot flying said to the co-pilot said 'gear up' at the appropriate time.

'I think the co-pilot grabbed the flap handle and raised the flaps, instead of the gear. If that happened, this explains a lot of why this airplane stopped flying.'

Steve said that the flaps being raised would cause the flight to lose airspeed and altitude quickly, something he thinks the pilot would have struggled to control.

He explained his theory by saying the 787's composite wings would normally bend during take off as lift forces take it into the air.

But the Air India plane appears to show no such bending, amid widespread speculation the flaps which help lift the plane off had accidentally been retracted.

Co-Pilot

Maybe I was onto something yesterday when I suggested the flaps weren’t deployed. Captain Steve thinks the non flying pilot pulled the flaps lever instead of the landing gear lever. I never heard of this type of mistake because these levers are in two different locations and are well marked, but we are human, so mistakes are made.

If that’s what happened, that mistake could not have been corrected in time to save the plane. Once the plane looses lift and it’s only at around 650 feet of altitude, game over. The pilot won’t have enough altitude or time to correct the situation.

It’s very important that the cause is determined. I think the investigators will learn a lot from the CVR, or Cockpit Voice Recorder.

 

[hollydolly]

Looks like they may have actually discovered what caused the crash.... not the previous theories