Breaking News - Air India 171 to London Gatwick crashes in Ahmedabad - 240+ Souls

[Zaphod58]

Back in 99 or 2000, I had to fly down to pheonix to drive my uncle back so he could move back to the U.P.  He was tired of living down there, not knowing hardly anyone.  It was in December or January, can't quite remember when.

Well, one way tickets were expensive, so I saved three hundred bucks by going to Vegas and then roundtripping two days later to pheonix.  On the trip down to Vegas, we had a storm ahead, and the pilot said he would go around it.  Pretty rocky, but the storm supposedly had a big head on it so we went around instead of up.  So we were about a half hour out of vegas at that time.  And the stewardess was standing right next to me asking if I wanted anything, there was a flash and we both looked out the window to see lightning hit the outer right hand engine...somehow she jumped up and landed in my lap with her arms around my neck.  we stared out that window, a little smoke, shaking, the engine was shut down.  She got up and was all embarrassed, everyone was staring at the wing.  she went to the front and everyone was staring out at the engine.  The pilot came on the intercom and said there was a charge built up on the nose and it flew off and hit the engine or something like that.  He said they can fly with three engines, it was nothing to worry about.

Well that cute little embarrassed waitress came back and appoligized, I told her she did not need to apoligize, she asked me if I wanted a drink.  I said sure.  She kept bringing me drinks the rest of that flight, we landed at Vegas and they said they were going to park on the tarmat, and be inspected before they went to the terminal.  Good thing that stewardess was giving me drinks, they had a firetruck and all sorts of other vehicles out there inspecting the engine.  We were on the ground there getting inspected for about forty five minutes...or should I say about three more drinks, she also handed me two of those little tiny seagrams bottles when we exited the plane finally, I was pretty drunk already.  Seems like if it was not a concern, they could have stopped maybe closer to the terminal than a quarter mile away.  I never saw the waitress again, I kept telling her she did not need to appologize, and I never did tell her that incident with her in my lap was the best part of my whole trip.  I was married, and I even told the wife what happened when I got home, she chuckled about it, my ex would have got really mad if I had still been married to her back then...even though I had no control over it.

That bolt of lightning supposedly from the nose sure made a big flash like a bolt of lightning.  I pretty much think that jet was grounded for a while for repairs, it taxied away towards some buildings before our luggage even came...nobody boarded that jet and they said that the next flight was cancelled over the intercom.

There was no demon creature tearing apart the engine like in the old twilight show years ago, just a bolt of lightning.  There was lots of people chatting in the jet after that, it sure livened up the atmosphere in the jet.

I am not afraid of lightning since then, having a cute stewardess land in your lap hugging you kind of makes you feel lightning is a reward.

Aircraft build up a static charge in flight. It's rare for it to jump like that but it does occasionally happen. More often than not you get St Elmo's Fire along the cockpit and nose section. Very cool effect to see.

[Zaphod58]

Supposedly the pilot reported no thrust, and they were losing lift in his mayday call before the crash.

[Sky727]

First I never flew the 787 but something I will point out as far as procedures. The 787 is a fly by wire aircraft and has all the modern gee-whiz stuff in the cockpit to include auto throttles. You are at the end of the runway configured for take off which means the before take off check list is completed along with the taxi check list which was completed before taking the runway ...these check list have a couple of important things to do such as speed bugs set, flaps set, trim, and the type of engine power that will be used. You stand the throttles up and hit the auto throttle button and the throttles advance to computed take-off power. once computed take-off speed is reached (call out is V-1 a speed you are supposed to be able to abort the take-off and then v-2 speed is reached which means the aircraft will fly even if an engine is lost so you rotate/leave the ground ) as the aircraft instruments and eyeballs show the aircraft climbing the flying pilot will command "positive rate gear up"..  

OK having said all that to set the tone look at the aircraft... Landing gear is still down.... Look at the wings there are no flaps extended.. 
did the flying pilot call for gear up and the non flying idiot retract the flaps... I find that hard to believe but weird things happen. You can see when the aircraft levels off and then starts its decent.; nose high climb attitude.. Was that due to a dual engine failure or an auto throttle fk up ? I would normally insert my tirade about push-button pilots "here" but I think I will past this time around.

Hydraulic failure and gear stays down ....many questions and few answers but the gear down and no flaps is a biggie IMO.

[Nerb]

Something was definitely not right with this flight. They taxied back to the end of the runway, which was 12,000 feet long. The take off video shows them lifting off near the end of the runway, and kicking up dust and dirt at the far end of the runway as they rotated and got airborne.

Perhaps we'll find out that the pilot was allowing the copilot to do the takeoff and allowed a little extra room for them. Then the copilot did something dumb that was the bit that doomed the flight.

Looks and sounds like a loss of power that meant the plane just couldn't stay at good enough power to continue it's ascent.

Fuel problem?
Unknown very heavy cargo?
Medical issue?
Controls problem?
Sabotage?

[quintessentone]

New news:

"Deadly Air India crash reignites whistleblower warnings about Boeing 787 Dreamliner"

"“There have been repeated examples of rushed work, and shortcuts being taken, all in the effort to try to get the planes out the door and delivered as soon as possible so the company can make money,” Pierson said in an exclusive interview with Interesting Engineering.
 
The Dreamliner has faced scattered incidents globally since its introduction.
 
According to aviation tracker AeroInside, five technical faults—ranging from hydraulic leaks to gear malfunctions—were reported this year alone.
 
Air India’s own 787 fleet has had a troubled history, with 32 documented incidents between 2015 and 2024. These included cabin pressure loss, engine shutdowns, windshield cracks, and more, although none until now had resulted in fatalities."
 
Deadly Air India crash reignites whistleblower warnings about Boeing 787 Dreamliner

[Zaphod58]

New news:

"Deadly Air India crash reignites whistleblower warnings about Boeing 787 Dreamliner"

"“There have been repeated examples of rushed work, and shortcuts being taken, all in the effort to try to get the planes out the door and delivered as soon as possible so the company can make money,” Pierson said in an exclusive interview with Interesting Engineering.
 
The Dreamliner has faced scattered incidents globally since its introduction.
 
According to aviation tracker AeroInside, five technical faults—ranging from hydraulic leaks to gear malfunctions—were reported this year alone.
 
Air India’s own 787 fleet has had a troubled history, with 32 documented incidents between 2015 and 2024. These included cabin pressure loss, engine shutdowns, windshield cracks, and more, although none until now had resulted in fatalities."
 
Deadly Air India crash reignites whistleblower warnings about Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Of course it does. There we go folks, no investigation required! A plane with 40,000 hours and maintenance issues is Boeing’s fault. Close the books on this one.

[quintessentone]

Of course it does. There we go folks, no investigation required! A plane with 40,000 hours and maintenance issues is Boeing’s fault. Close the books on this one.

Well an investigation is absolutely needed what with those reports. They are saying Boeing has blood on its hands.

[PorkChop96]

Well an investigation is absolutely needed what with those reports. They are saying Boeing has blood on its hands.

Of course they are going to try and pass the buck to Boeing. If you as a company, with a history of fatal crashes caused by safety and negligence issues, were responsible for the death of 242+ people, would you come out and say it was your fault right when it happens? Of course not

[Zaphod58]

Well an investigation is absolutely needed what with those reports. They are saying Boeing has blood on its hands.

Because they don’t give a crap about the cause. It’s a Boeing, that’s all that matters. By the time the investigation is done everyone blaming Boeing iimmediately will have moved on and won’t give a crap about it anymore.

[Zaphod58]