An aviation analyst has reviewed footage of the Air India Boeing 787-8 earlier than its deadly crash and assessed that the configuration of the passenger aircraft “doesn’t look right”.
The Dreamliner, with 242 folks on board, together with 53 Britons, got here down shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in western India sure for Gatwick, on this planet’s worst aviation catastrophe in a decade.
Not less than one individual – a UK nationwide – survived the catastrophe and the passenger mentioned he heard a loud noise quickly after the aircraft left the bottom.
“It’s clearly got its [landing] gear down and that is not correct… it should have been up. And from the video… it’s not immensely clear… but it does look like the aircraft didn’t have its take-off flap setting.”
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Mr Rosenschein defined that the wing flaps must be set appropriately as they prolong the form of every wing and create important additional raise at decrease speeds to allow the aircraft to take-off and climb successfully.
He added that, whereas he was speculating, it “could explain why the aircraft came down” because the “aircraft would not have been able to maintain flight”.
“The video is not that clear, but it [the flaps setting] doesn’t look right to me,” he mentioned.
“The attitude of the aircraft isn’t right either and the aircraft seems to be descending rather than climbing.
“It does appear like it is an aerodynamic situation due to not having the appropriate flaps setting on take-off.”
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Picture:
A tail of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft that crashed is seen caught on a constructing. Pic: Reuters
Concentrate on flaps and touchdown gear
He speculated that the plane suffered “possibly a flap issue” though footage of the aircraft simply earlier than the crash is poor high quality.
He added the touchdown gear additionally “stayed down a bit longer than is usual” though there may very well be different causes for that.
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Mr Rosenschein additionally spoke concerning the standing of the touchdown gear, that are normally retracted into the physique of the plane shortly after changing into airborne.
“I cannot understand why the gear would have been down… [and] left down. That would suggest, perhaps, a hydraulic problem because it’s hydraulics that raise the gear… but this is speculation.
“The accident investigators shall be taking a look at all of the movies which might be accessible, however they will get the overwhelming majority of their data straight from the 2 black packing containers”.
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Black packing containers shall be important
India’s Plane Accident Investigation Bureau shall be eager to entry the info on the black packing containers, or flight knowledge recorders, which retailer important details about the configuration of the plane, together with the flaps and touchdown gear.
Paul Edwards, an aviation safety analyst and fellow on the Royal Aeronautical Society, additionally says it stays a thriller why the touchdown gear was nonetheless down.
“It could have been he [the pilot] just didn’t have time, or it could be that perhaps he thought he could control it, go round again and land or even land straight ahead.”
“Really, we can’t second-guess it,” he added. “So that remains, if you like, a mystery.”
He described the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as having an “impeccable” security report.
Dr Jason Knight, senior lecturer in fluid mechanics on the College of Portsmouth, has raised the chance {that a} chicken strike may very well be linked to the crash.
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“It is very unlikely that the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel. The aircraft is designed to be able to fly on one engine, so the most likely cause of the crash is a double engine failure,” he mentioned.
“Because the altitude was so low, the pilot would have had very little time to do an emergency landing. The most likely cause of a double engine failure is a bird strike.”
Professor Graham Braithwaite, director of Aerospace and Aviation at Cranfield College, defined that passenger planes have a wonderful security report.
“Although take-off is a critical stage of flight, aircraft accidents are incredibly rare, especially involving modern aircraft types such as the Boeing 787.
“Take-off is a important stage as a result of the plane continues to be accelerating and any problem-solving requires a speedy response.”
‘Very shocking accident’
Professor John McDermid, Lloyd’s Register chair of security on the College of York, agreed that “take-off and landing are the most dangerous phases of flight”.
However he described it as a “very surprising accident” given the degrees of redundancy in plane programs and that they’ll climb with just one engine if wanted.
“It’s surprising that the accident occurred before the aircraft had even got to 200 metres altitude.
“Pilots can abort take-off till fairly late within the take-off roll, so it looks as if the issue occurred very abruptly within the ultimate a part of the take-off roll [before the aircraft becomes airbourne], or shortly after take-off, and was sufficiently severe to be unmanageable.”
The weather will also form part of the investigation, although Paul Williams, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading, said conditions at the airport “seem to have been excellent”.
“It was a dry and sunny day in Ahmedabad, with temperatures close to 40C (104F). There was good visibility and lightweight winds from the west.
“There is no indication at this stage that turbulence or other weather conditions were a factor in the crash.”
