Expert's theory on terrifyingly simple mistake he thinks Air India co-pilot made that caused crash and killed 265

serendipity

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He thinks that the co-pilot got confused and pulled the flaps lever instead of retracting the undercarriage by mistake.

 
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Can we wait for the black box review?

We could, but I personally like the fact that there is now a theory as to what happened that looks quite credible. From serendipity's article:
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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.

The London-bound 787 Dreamliner began losing height moments after take-off and crashed in a fireball over a residential area in the Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

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appears to show no such bending, amid widespread speculation the flaps which help lift the plane off had accidentally been retracted.

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Source:
 
We could, but I personally like the fact that there is now a theory as to what happened that looks quite credible. From serendipity's article:
**
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.

The London-bound 787 Dreamliner began losing height moments after take-off and crashed in a fireball over a residential area in the Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

teve 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.

**

Source:
One of a long list of hypothesis, said of a crew with over 9000 hours.....I tend to doubt it.
 
Have any experts come up with any other theories? So far, I've only heard of the theory from serendipity's article.

 
" It's unclear what prompted the mayday call, but the flight's sole survivor has told Indian media that he heard a loud bang as the plane struggled to gain altitude."

"
One cause that has been speculated on by some experts is the possibility of an extremely rare double engine failure. Questions have been raised as to whether the plane had its Ram Air Turbine (RAT) deployed, an emergency back-up turbine which kicks in when main engines fail to generate power for essential systems."

 
I did hear of a Boeing whistleblower, but certainly never heard that he had an explanation for why a Boeing 787 would crash soon after takeoff.
Several Boeing whistleblowers witnessed shoddy work to save money and keep up with demand. Everything from jumping on flaps to get them to line up, to bad wiring, and having to use rejected parts when they ran out of good parts.

Old school pilots have been complaining for 2 decades about the lack of training for new pilots. Either way, corporate profits and lack of competition led to planes falling out of the sky.
 
Several Boeing whistleblowers witnessed shoddy work to save money and keep up with demand. Everything from jumping on flaps to get them to line up, to bad wiring, and having to use rejected parts when they ran out of good parts.

Old school pilots have been complaining for 2 decades about the lack of training for new pilots. Either way, corporate profits and lack of competition led to planes falling out of the sky.
If this was complete engine failure, as the mayday seems to indicate, we are likely looking at a bad build.

But we need more info.
 


In your first article, Captain Sabharwal, the expert cited, points out that the something I imagine Captain Steve, the expert in serendipity's article, saw as well, namely that the landing gear hadn't been retracted. Mr. Sabharwal does mention Steve's theory, though he thinks it's unlikely:
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"And the third, very unlikely scenario, is that when the captain says 'gear up', the first officer or the co-pilot, instead of raising the gear, retracts the flaps. The retraction of flaps will result in immediate loss of lift. And with the gear down, the thrust will not be able to cope up with the drag being created," Mr Rai told NDTV. "The aircraft will not be able to climb."
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Here's Sabharwal's top 2 theories:
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According to Mr Rai, several scenarios could have happened. One could be that a bird hit has taken place and both pilots have been taken aback, and in the process they have forgotten to raise the undercarriage. However, this [bird hit] has been ruled out by many aviation experts.

Another scenario Mr Rai explained was the possibility of a sudden loss of power, which may have distracted both the pilots, and in the process the undercarriage remained in landing position.

**

There's a paywall on your second article, all I saw was that there were various theories, but not what those theories were.
 
In your first article, Captain Sabharwal, the expert cited, points out that the something I imagine Captain Steve, the expert in serendipity's article, saw as well, namely that the landing gear hadn't been retracted. Mr. Sabharwal does mention Steve's theory, though he thinks it's unlikely:
**
"And the third, very unlikely scenario, is that when the captain says 'gear up', the first officer or the co-pilot, instead of raising the gear, retracts the flaps. The retraction of flaps will result in immediate loss of lift. And with the gear down, the thrust will not be able to cope up with the drag being created," Mr Rai told NDTV. "The aircraft will not be able to climb."
**

Here's Sabharwal's top 2 theories:
**
According to Mr Rai, several scenarios could have happened. One could be that a bird hit has taken place and both pilots have been taken aback, and in the process they have forgotten to raise the undercarriage. However, this [bird hit] has been ruled out by many aviation experts.

Another scenario Mr Rai explained was the possibility of a sudden loss of power, which may have distracted both the pilots, and in the process the undercarriage remained in landing position.

**

There's a paywall on your second article, all I saw was that there were various theories, but not what those theories were.
I was able to read Seattle Times and I dont pay them. They used to be a newspaper, and have for many decades done aviation well.

I should mention that I saw a claim from someone that was on the flight that landed 2 hours before this one tried to take off that there were plane problems.....they seemed to be saying (by the picture) that the entertainment system was not working right, so I ignored it, but now that I am leaning towards a very rare duel engine failure I wish I had looked at it.
 
The Brit maggot would attempt to protect his shares in Boeing even as he sat in seat #13 watching the world upside down as he plummeted to earth.

"THE PILOT MUST HAVE PULLED THE WRONG LEVER"

HAW, HAW, HAW, HAW, HAW,HAW,HAW,HAW,HAW,HAW......................................HAW,HAW,HAW................................................HAW.
 
I will be very interested to see the data about the engine performance on the roll down the runway.....I saw one say that it looked like a very abnormally long run.

And the flap settings.
 
I will be very interested to see the data about the engine performance on the roll down the runway.....I saw one say that it looked like a very abnormally long run.

And the flap settings.
Nah- the pilot pulled the wrong lever. Only a couple of hundred dead.

Boeing is too big to fail.

They think.
 
I was able to read Seattle Times and I dont pay them. They used to be a newspaper, and have for many decades done aviation well.

This is what their site told me when using Chrome on my mac:
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Your browser is set to private mode.​

To continue reading, log in or subscribe.
**

Tried to find out how to disable private mode on my mac, to no avail. However, I just tried opening the article on Safari, worked fine.
 
Nah- the pilot pulled the wrong lever. Only a couple of hundred dead.

Boeing is too big to fail.

They think.
While I would lean towards a bad build if this was duel engine failure Air India is in transition......this might have been them.

Hold on we need more info.
 
While I would lean towards a bad build if this was duel engine failure Air India is in transition......this might have been them.

Hold on we need more info.
The info we get will depend upon who gets the black boxes before its filtered through the censors .

" The pilot pulled the wrong lever " is just a toe in the water for the Boeing shareholders.
' New Boeings will be fitted with pilot ejector seats ' is just a wicked rumor.

Haw, haw......................haw. Haw, haw, haw, haw....................haw.
 
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