New Evidence Suggests Dual Engine or Electrical Failure in Ahmedabad Air India Crash

GG News Bureau
Ahmedabad, 17th June: India witnessed one of its worst aviation disasters last week, claiming at least 270 lives. New evidence now strongly suggests that the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner involved may have suffered a dual engine failure or a total electrical or hydraulic malfunction.

Clearer audio and video from the June 12 crash show the Ram Air Turbine (RAT)—a small, propeller-like device that automatically deploys during dual-engine failure or total electronic/hydraulic failure—was deployed on the Dreamliner. The aircraft crashed just 32 seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad airport. The distinct, high-pitched whine of the RAT can be clearly heard in the audio, in the absence of the roar of the aircraft’s jet engines. Its deployment is also visible in video footage, which shows the plane struggling to maintain altitude before rapidly descending.

Experts state that the RAT uses wind speed to generate emergency power, and its automatic deployment points to three possible scenarios: a failure of both aircraft engines, an electronic failure, or a hydraulic system failure.

Veteran Indian Air Force Pilot and aviation expert Captain Ehsan Khalid had suspected dual engine failure on the day of the crash itself, after the video emerged. He noted that the aircraft was not ‘yawing’ (turning abruptly), and it is highly improbable for birds to strike both engines simultaneously.

“Dual engine failure was almost everybody’s guess,” Captain Khalid said. “The lone survivor of the crash had also said he heard a sound, which could be the deployment of the RAT; the racing of an engine, which could have been the propeller turning and picking up speed; and he saw red and blue lights, which could have been the emergency power connecting and the emergency lights turning on.”

He further explained, “The aircraft was actively flying and it was not able to maintain its height. It was a dual loss of power, which would obviously lead to lower speed and a loss of lift (the upward force that opposes gravity and allows an aircraft to fly) and the plane will continue to go down the way it did. The Ram Air Turbine deploys when there is a dual engine failure or electrical failure or hydraulic failure.”

The former Air Force pilot suggested that an electrical failure, under certain conditions, could have caused both engines to shut down. “The engines shut down digitally, precisely, and at the same time, which could have only happened due to a malfunction in the software, which was executed by a wrong signal from the sensors, which could have come from an electrical failure,” he elaborated.

Professor of airspace Dr. Aditya Paranjape also concurred, stating that the evidence points to both engines failing to provide thrust. He highlighted that airplanes are configured to climb with just one engine operational, a standard maneuver known as a one-engine-out climb. “That maneuver additionally requires that the rudder be deflected in the direction of the working engine to balance out the differential yawing movement, which we don’t see here… The loss of power is identical on both sides of the airplane,” he emphasized.

32 Seconds of Terror
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, operating as Air India flight AI-171 to London, took off from Ahmedabad on the afternoon of June 12. It crashed into the complex of the BJ Medical College—an aerial distance of less than 2 km—at 1:38 pm, just 32 seconds after takeoff. Of the 242 people on board, including 10 crew members and two pilots, only one—40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British-Indian returning to the UK—survived. Tragically, at least 30 people on the ground, including trainee doctors, were also killed.

While a bird hit was initially suspected, it has now been ruled out as no bird carcasses were found on the runway, and available videos show no fire, sparks, smoke, or debris around the engines.