A veteran commercial airline pilot said he may have found 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 aircraft moments before it crashed, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground.
Schreiber suspects dual engine failure is possibly the cause after seeing and hearing the plane’s Ram Access Turbine (RAT) deployed, he said in a video posted on YouTube Friday.
“Many airplanes have it,” Schreiber said. “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 said that the purpose “is to provide electrical and hydraulic pressure for the aircraft in an extreme emergency.”
The 63-year-old pilot explained that three things 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 said.
The seasoned aviator pointed to a screenshot from one of the videos taken moments before the Air India Boeing 787 crashed, showing the “little grey dot,” he said, is the RAT.
“The protrusion is the door that opened to allow the rat to come down,” Schreiber said.
He then pointed out to viewers that the sound from the video is further evidence 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 explained.
“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 experience to the cockpit — said 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 massive Boeing 787 suffered dual-engine failure shortly after takeoff, possibly caused by an electric or hydraulic issue.
“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 said.
“But I think the fact that the airplane is mushing out of the sky gives the idea it was a dual engine failure.”
Schreiber also used evidence provided by the sole survivor of the crash, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, to further back up his claim.
Ramesh, 40, was in seat 11A, while people all around him died in the crash, including his brother, Ajaykumar Ramesh, 35, who was in 11J, the same row but on the other side.
Ramesh said that the plane seemed to stall midair for a few seconds after takeoff, with green and white lights coming on as the plane struggled to gain height and quickly came crashing down.
“The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded,” Ramesh said.
Schreiber believes Ramesh’s account of what happened provides more evidence of dual 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 said.
“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 said that while the publication Aviation Herald ruled out a few things, including dual engine failure, he believes they “probably got that wrong.”
However, the seasoned pilot said he’s leaving the door “wide open” to what could have caused the fatal crash until further evidence is shared, since he’s still stumped how “both engines on a 787 would flame out at the same time.”
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