A veteran industrial airline pilot mentioned he could have discovered a “total game-changer” in what led to the doomed Air India Boeing 787 to crash after analyzing new video.
Pilot Steve Schreiber, who goes by “Captain Steeeve” on YouTube, broke down a clearer video with audio from the plane moments earlier than it crashed, killing 241 folks on board and not less than 29 on the bottom.
Schreiber suspects twin engine failure is probably the trigger after seeing and listening to the aircraft’s Ram Entry Turbine (RAT) deployed, he mentioned in a video posted on YouTube Friday.
“Many airplanes have it,” Schreiber mentioned. “It is just behind the wing on the right side of the airplane, there is a little door that holds it in, and it looks like a little Evinrude motor, it’s a little two-bladed prop.”
Schreiber mentioned that the aim “is to provide electrical and hydraulic pressure for the aircraft in an extreme emergency.”
The 63-year-old pilot defined that three issues would deploy the RAT, “A massive electrical failure, a massive hydraulic failure, or a dual engine failure.”
“Any one of those three things will cause that RAT to deploy,” Schreiber mentioned.
The seasoned aviator pointed to a screenshot from one of many movies taken moments earlier than the Air India Boeing 787 crashed, displaying the “little grey dot,” he mentioned, is the RAT.
“The protrusion is the door that opened to allow the rat to come down,” Schreiber mentioned.
He then identified to viewers that the sound from the video is additional proof that the RAT was deployed.
“A RAT makes a distinctive sound, it sounds like a propeller airplane going by, or a really high-pitched squeal. It is basically spinning at the speed of sound to produce the energy, electrical and hydraulic, that it needs,” Schreiber defined.
“If you weren’t looking at it, it sounded like a single-engine prop airplane just flew by.”
The pilot — who brings 26 years of flying expertise to the cockpit — mentioned the RAT was “originally designed as the absolute last resort, assuming there is going to be a dual engine failure at altitude.”
“It is not designed for an airplane at 400-500 feet. But it is evidence for us,” he added.
Schreiber speculated that the huge Boeing 787 suffered dual-engine failure shortly after takeoff, probably attributable to an electrical or hydraulic subject.
“It is evidence for us it was dual engine failure, most likely. It could have been an electrical issue, it could have been a hydraulic issue, it could have been either one of those,” he mentioned.
“But I think the fact that the airplane is mushing out of the sky gives the idea it was a dual engine failure.”
Schreiber additionally used proof supplied by the only real survivor of the crash, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, to additional again up his declare.
Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A, whereas folks throughout him died within the crash, together with his brother, Ajaykumar Ramesh, 35, who was in 11J, the identical row however on the opposite aspect.
Ramesh mentioned that the aircraft appeared to stall midair for a number of seconds after takeoff, with inexperienced and white lights approaching because the aircraft struggled to achieve top and rapidly got here crashing down.
“The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded,” Ramesh mentioned.
Schreiber believes Ramesh’s account of what occurred gives extra proof of twin engine failure.
“He said just prior to the crash, he heard a loud bang and the lights flickered on the inside of the airplane. We have got a guy saying he heard a loud bang and the lights flickered, what would cause that? The deployment of the RAT,” Schreiber mentioned.
“It’s going to take over electrical and hydraulic, and as it does, the lights in the airplane would flicker. I have heard reports the captain got out a mayday call, and he said they were losing thrust. That could be the fourth piece of evidence for dual engine failure.”
Schreiber mentioned that whereas the publication Aviation Herald dominated out a number of issues, together with twin engine failure, he believes they “probably got that wrong.”
Nonetheless, the seasoned pilot mentioned he’s leaving the door “wide open” to what might have brought about the deadly crash till additional proof is shared, since he’s nonetheless stumped how “both engines on a 787 would flame out at the same time.”
