Probably both engines lost power, FDR will interpret what went wrong in AI plane: Ex-Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 14 (ANI): As an investigation is underway to find the cause of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, Former Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said on Saturday that probably both engines lost power and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) would be examined to interpret what went wrong.
Speaking to ANI, Raha said, 'Looking at the aircraft conditions, the way the aircraft has stalled and sank into the ground, it appears at a very critical stage of flight, transition from ground to air, there has been a loss of engine power. That loss of power could be due to electronic glitches in the control systems of the engine. Normally, it does not happen. Probably both engines have lost power. And it happened at a very critical stage. As a result, it crashed. The second thing (probability) is fuel contamination, which has occurred in the past as well.'
He further said that the people investigating the case will check the FDR, as it records every parameter of the flight.
'They have the FDR (Flight Data Recorder), black box. FDR records every parameter of the flight, engine parameters, airframe parameters, and control inputs. They will access the information, interpret it and then the specialist will analyse what went wrong,' Arup Raha said.
The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Ahmedabad to London with 242 passengers crashed in Meghaninagar area shortly after it took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday.
Only one person out of the 242 people on board survived the crash. As per Air India, the passengers comprised 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals.
The DGCA on Friday directed Air India to immediately carry out the additional maintenance actions on its B787-8/9 aircraft equipped with Genx engines in coordination with the concerned regional DGCA offices.
'Air India is in the process of completing the one-time safety checks directed by the Indian aviation regulator, DGCA. These checks are being carried out on the Boeing 787 fleet as they return to India, before being cleared for their next operations. Air India has completed such checks on nine of the Boeing 787 aircraft and are on track to complete this process for the remaining 24 aircraft within the timeline provided by the regulator,' Air India stated. (ANI)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
38 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Air India plane crash: Ansari's video clue points to equipment-linked emergency, possible power backup deployment; Flight Data Recorder holds key
A video of the last moments of the doomed Air India Boeing 787-8 could offer new insight into the crash till the time the flight data recorder (FDR) data is analysed. The video, shot by a class 12 student and amateur terrace photographer Aryan Ansari, could challenge a few theories doing the rounds on what might have led to the crash in Ahmedabad—the deadliest disaster involving an Indian airline in decades and the world's first-ever Boeing 787 crash. While aviation experts did speculate whether the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) or RAT (Ram Air Turbine)—both emergency power sources on the aircraft—were deployed, the clearer video sourced directly from Ansari's phone seems to suggest that the RAT was down. That ties in with what the sole survivor testified to—a loud bang accompanied by the light going out, and then a green light coming in the cabin. And the captain's mayday call. The bang could be indicative of a lower hatch giving way and the RAT being deployed automatically, a regulatory source said, while adding that there could be other triggers for a loud sound too. The RAT is essentially a wind turbine located just behind the landing gear console that deploys into the airstream to generate power only when primary and secondary power sources fail. The APU is a smaller turbine engine, typically located in the tail section of the aircraft, that provides electrical and pneumatic power for various on-board systems. Now, a dual engine failure is the rarest-of-rare event. But if the RAT deployed, it means there was a grave emergency—either a total electrical failure, a debilitating hydraulic failure, or a dual-engine failure, or a combination of these or more factors. Given the appearance of not sufficient lift and loss of thrust, the dual-engine failure theory, which many experts earlier said was not probable but still theoretically possible, could now well be a leading question for investigators to look into. At a media briefing on Saturday, Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu had said that investigators will look at all the theories doing the rounds. To be sure, it is too early to jump to any conclusion based on the initial video evidence, considering aircraft are extremely sophisticated and complex machines and detailed and painstaking investigations are required to ascertain the exact cause or combination of causes. All that the clearer video now available does, however, is provide investigators with a crucial clue. Fuel contamination or clogging of fuel can lead to the engines being starved, leading to a sudden shutdown. A source at the airport did indicate that refuelling took longer than usual (at 42 minutes), but a few others indicated that this was not really an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence for a long-distance international flight with full load. Could it have been bird strikes? The footage available so far does not seem to suggest that. Also, although the Ahmedabad airport has a higher-than-average count of bird hits compared to other airports in the country, it would again be a rarest-of-rare event for a bird hit to disable both engines together. So far, there is no evidence to suggest such a significant bird strike, neither in the initial footage of the aircraft accident, nor at the airfield in the form of bird carcasses. Coming to the RAT deployment, the device is a last resort for providing basic power to the aircraft when everything else fails. But the RAT is more useful at higher or cruising altitudes, giving the pilots enough time to land at the closest available airfield. Neither time nor altitude was available to the pilots of flight AI-171. The plane had just lifted off the runway and was barely at an altitude of 625 feet—400-odd feet if Ahmedabad airport's 200-feet elevation is accounted for—before it crashed within moments. The odds that an aviation accident has a single trigger are rare, and crashes usually have a series of things that go wrong together or one leading to another. The one thing that experts were increasingly converging on before Ansari's clearer video emerged was that the landing gear of AI-171 was down and flaps were perhaps not retracted, well after the aircraft climbed off the runway. The possibility of an erroneous retraction of the flaps, instead of the gear, was a possibility that some were pointing to. The apparent lack of lift, something that the sole survivor attested to when he said the plane seemed to hang mid-air before going down, seemed to attest to this theory. The RAT deployment. though, changes all of this entirely. From the available videos, the rate of rotation (the action of pulling back a yoke or centre stick to lift the nose wheel off the ground during takeoff) appears to have been fine, but the undercarriage not being lifted up despite the aircraft being airborne is when things seem to have started going wrong. The landing gear should have been retracted by the time the time the aircraft reached 100 feet, after the 'positive rate' of climb is achieved, which is when the captain gives the 'gear up' command to the co-pilot for retracting the landing gear. The gear being down, along with incorrect wing flap configuration, together would lead to insufficient lift coupled with significant drag. Even a partial loss of thrust could have potentially impacted the lift given that landing gear was down. The pilots pulling the nose up towards the end seems to suggest a desperate move as the terrain warning would've started sounding in the cockpit While the FDR has been found, and will certainly provide deep insights into the reasons of the crash, the other black box—cockpit voice recorder (CVR)—will also be critical in the investigation, the details of the pilots' interaction with each other and the air traffic control will emerge from it, and so will the details of the warnings and alarms that would have been sounded in the cockpit before the fatal crash. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More Anil Sasi is National Business Editor with the Indian Express and writes on business and finance issues. He has worked with The Hindu Business Line and Business Standard and is an alumnus of Delhi University. ... Read More
Indian Express
38 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Tragic end to Maharashtra business family's long-cherished Char Dham yatra as chopper crashes in Uttarakhand
Three members of a business family from Vani town in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district were among the seven people killed when a helicopter ferrying pilgrims from Kedarnath crashed near Gaurikund in Uttarakhand Sunday morning. The Bell 407 chopper, operated by Aryan Aviation, crashed minutes after taking off from Kedarnath on its return leg to Guptkashi. ( Rajkumar Jaiswal, 41, his wife, Shraddha Jaiswal, 35, and their two-year-old daughter, Kashi, were on a Char Dham pilgrimage that they began on June 12, fulfilling a long-standing religious vow. Their six-year-old son, Vivaan, however, survived only because he had stayed back in Pandharkawda in Maharashtra with his grandparents. Locals described the Jaiswals as a 'devout and deeply spiritual family,' known for their involvement in both religious and social life in Vani, while also running a successful business. In Vani, news of the Jaiswal family's death sparked deep mourning. Rajkumar Jaiswal, described as 'soft-spoken and devout,' had long wished to undertake the Char Dham yatra with his family, according to locals. Last year, the couple hosted a Shiv Mahapuran Katha to mark daughter Kashi's naming ceremony, a well-attended event led by spiritual preacher Pradeep Mishra. Village residents say the Jaiswal family lived a life rooted in faith, and now, the survival of their son is the only solace. The family also ran a successful retail business and was active in community affairs. Authorities are arranging to bring the bodies back for last rites in Pandharkawda. The other four killed in the chopper crash were identified as Captain Rajbir Singh Chauhan from Jaipur ( who was the pilot, Vikram Rawat from Ukhimath in Uttarakhand, Vinod Devi and Trishti Singh from Uttar Pradesh. According to a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) press release, the Bell 407 helicopter (VT-BKA) took off from Guptkashi at 5.10 am, landed at Kedarnath at 5.18 am, and departed again at 5.19 am. It crashed shortly after, near the forested slopes of Gaurikund. All five adult passengers, one infant, and the pilot were killed. 'As a precautionary measure, DGCA has already reduced the frequency of helicopter operations to Char Dham, is carrying out enhanced surveillance, and reviewing operations for any further action,' the aviation regulator said. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will lead a formal probe. Rescue teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were deployed immediately but found no survivors.
India.com
44 minutes ago
- India.com
BKTCs Vikram Rawat Among 7 Killed In Ukhand Helicopter Crash Near Kedarnath
New Delhi: A devastating helicopter crash near Kedarnath in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district has claimed the lives of seven people, including a 47-year-old employee of the Shri Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC), Vikram Rawat. The ill-fated helicopter, operated by Aryan Aviation, was traveling from Kedarnath to Guptkashi when it crashed around 5:20 am near Gaurikund, a remote area 7 km from the Kedarnath shrine. According to officials, the helicopter took off from Kedarnath at 5 am with seven people on board, including the pilot, Captain Rajiv. The passengers included a family from Maharashtra who were visiting the Kedarnath shrine. Rescue operations were immediately launched, with teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and local administration dispatched to the site. #WATCH | Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand: Today, a helicopter operating a flight on the sector Shri Kedarnath to Guptkashi was involved in an accident. A total of 07 people were on board this helicopter, who died on the spot. Rescue teams were immediately dispatched under the direction… — ANI (@ANI) June 15, 2025 According to the SDRF, "Today, a helicopter operating a flight on the sector Shri Kedarnath to Guptkashi was involved in an accident. A total of 07 people were on board this helicopter, who died on the spot. Rescue teams were immediately dispatched under the direction of SDRF Commander Arpan Yadav. The incident spot was located in a very inaccessible and dense forest area, where a fast-paced and coordinated rescue operation was carried out by the joint teams of SDRF, NDRF, and local police." "A 47-year-old BKTC employee, Vikram Rawat, died in the Uttarakhand helicopter crash. The employees gathered at all the offices of the temple committee and expressed condolences," Shri Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee spokesperson, Harish Gaur, quoted. A 47-year-old BKTC employee, Vikram Rawat died in the Uttarakhand helicopter crash. The employees gathered at all the offices of the temple committee and expressed condolences: Shri Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee spokesperson, Harish Gaur (Pic 1- deceased Vikram Rawat) — ANI (@ANI) June 15, 2025 Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed deep grief over the incident and instructed that a strict Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) be prepared for helicopter operations in the state. The SOP will include mandatory technical checks and accurate weather forecasting before flights. CM Dhami also directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee of technical experts to review and ensure the safety of heli services. CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is also holding a virtual high-level meeting with senior officials from the CM residence after the helicopter crash between Kedarnath and Gaurikund. State Chief Secretary, Disaster Management Secretary, UCADA CEO, Garhwal Commissioner, and other senior officials are present at the high-level meeting. #WATCH | Dehradun | Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami holds a virtual high-level meeting with senior officials from the CM residence after the helicopter crash between Kedarnath-Gaurikund. State Chief Secretary, Disaster Management Secretary, UCADA CEO, Garhwal Commissioner and… — ANI (@ANI) June 15, 2025 The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has taken proactive measures, reducing the frequency of helicopter operations to Char Dham and enhancing surveillance. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will investigate the accident to determine the cause of the crash. "Today, Aryan Aviation Bell 407 helicopter VT-BKA operating flight on sector Shri Kedarnath ji- Aryan Helipad, Guptkanshi, was involved in an accident. There were five passengers, one infant, and one crew member on board. The helicopter took off at 05:19 hours for Guptkanshi and crashed near Gaurikund. As a precautionary measure, DGCA has already reduced the frequency of helicopter operations to Char Dham and is carrying out enhanced surveillance and reviewing the operation for any further action. The AAIB would investigate the accident," the DGCA said. Uttarakhand helicopter crash | Today, Aryan Aviation Bell 407 helicopter VT-BKA operating flight on sector Shri Kedarnath ji- Aryan Helipad, Guptkanshi, was involved in an accident. There were five passengers, one infant and one crew member on board. The helicopter took off at… — ANI (@ANI) June 15, 2025 This incident marks the third helicopter accident in Uttarakhand within a short span. On June 7, a Crystal Aviation helicopter made an emergency landing on the Rudraprayag-Gaurikund highway due to a technical fault, while on May 8, an Aerotrans helicopter crashed near Gangnani, killing six people. The recent crash has raised concerns about aviation safety, and authorities are working to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
