‘Flickering green and white': Inside the cabin seconds before the Air India crash

The Age

15 hours ago

In his final message to air traffic controllers, the plane's pilot said the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had 'no thrust', was 'losing power' and was 'unable to lift'. The Dreamliner is designed to be able to climb and fly safely in the event of having only one engine operational.
Speculation has been rife over what may have caused the crash, including the possibility of pilot error, faulty flaps, electrical problems or engine failure.
A bird strike is a prominent hypothesis, and could have caused a catastrophic engine failure leading to such a situation, but there has been no evidence of flocks in the area at the time of the crash.
'More than one thing went wrong here. The thing that might have started it, and I think probably did, was a loss of power,' Learmount said
'Whether it was loss of power on one engine or both engines is not clear. But the failure of a single engine should not cause a crew to lose control of a modern airliner, even in the critical early climb phase.
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'At the same time, simultaneous engine failures for unconnected reasons simply do not happen, based on the entire history of aviation. So if there was a failure of both, the question is what could have caused it.'
The two engines on the plane are made by General Electric aviation and have a good safety history. On Friday, the Indian aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, issued a notice to Air India to conduct more inspections of all of its 787-8 and 787-9 fleet with GE engines.
This includes an inspection of the fuel monitoring systems, a test of the electronic engine control, a check of the hydraulics and a review of take-off parameters. 'Power assurance checks' are also to be done on each plane within two weeks.
Dr Akhil Bhardwaj, a senior lecturer in aviation safety at the University of Bath, said he believed the DGCA was acting with an 'understandable abundance of caution'.
Last year, a United Airlines 787 jet, which has the same GEnx-1B engines as the doomed AI 171 flight, suffered an 'uncontained left engine failure shortly after take-off' while flying from Singapore to San Francisco last year, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.
The engine ceased working at cruise altitude and set alight, according to the report, with the pilots managing to circle back and land the plane in Singapore using just one engine.
A GE Aerospace spokesman said: 'Safety is our top priority, and we support the action being taken by the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation for enhanced safety inspections of the Air India 787-8/9 fleet.
'We continue to work closely with the appropriate regulatory and investigative agencies, and we are committed to providing all technical support necessary to understand the cause of this accident.'
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Experts have suggested that the Dreamliner, which until Thursday had an unblemished safety record, also deployed its Ram Air Turbine (RAT) during the ill-fated 60 seconds between take-off and the crash.
The RAT is a propeller-like device that sits in the fuselage between the wings and is only deployed in the most dangerous situations, to provide emergency power to vital electrical systems.
Sambulo Matema, a lecturer in aviation management at University College Birmingham, said: 'There is credence to this theory. In a complete power‑loss scenario, the aircraft transitions from engine‑supplied power to RAT power, and lighting anomalies can occur.'
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'This behaviour aligns with established emergency procedures and the expected performance of aircraft electrical systems under severe duress.
'After total power loss, the RAT deploys as a fallback power source. During this transition, green emergency lighting activates, and white lights may flash while onboard systems reboot and stabilise.'
Learmount, who flew Hercules military transport planes around the Middle East during his RAF career, said the RAT would have sent power to the cockpit. The plane's batteries would also have supported vital systems.
However, neither could have done anything to keep the plane aloft in the event of its turbines spooling down.
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All this suggests the fault lay in the engines. However, what could have caused them to shut down remains unclear.
One theory is contaminated fuel. In 2010, a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong almost ended in disaster when the pilot was unable to control engine thrust, leading it to land at twice the usual speed.
It later emerged that fuel pumped into the plane had been contaminated with saltwater, damaging its engines over time. However, such problems are rare.
Learmount said: 'If you go looking for a potential cause of multiple engine failure, fuel contamination could do it. But again, history is against that potential cause in observed reality.'