‘Air India Plane Crash Not a Pilot Error’: Ex-Boeing 787 Engineer Points to Engine Failure

yesterday

A former Boeing engineer who worked on the avionics of the Boeing 787 between 2004 and 2007 has weighed in on the tragic crash of Air India Flight AI171. Dismissing the possibility of pilot error, the expert points to a likely failure in the propulsion system — suggesting both engines may have lost power before the crash. He highlights potential maintenance lapses or fuel system issues, urging a deep investigation.

#ahmedabadplanecrash #planecrash #ExclusiveInterview #gujarattragedy #breakingnews #airplanecrash #gujaratairplanecrash #airindiacrash #planecrash #airplanemishap #planecrashlive #ahmedabadnews #gujaratplanecrashnews #gujaratnewslive #ahmedabadflightcrash #ahmedabadplaneaccident #ahmedabadrescueoperations

~HT.410~PR.152~PR.282~ED.194~

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to this special broadcast on OneIndia on the deadly air crash in Ahmedabad.

00:07Mirza Faizan, an aerospace scientist and aviation expert, joins us all the way from Dallas, Texas in the United States.

00:17Mr. Faizan, thank you so much for speaking to OneIndia. How are you doing today?

00:21Thank you so much, Mr. Pankaj. Thank you for having me. I'm doing fine.

00:25Although it's devastating news, we have got early morning here in the Dallas time.

00:30But otherwise, we are fine.

00:32Right. So what are your initial observations?

00:38Because it must have been, you know, you must have received the information early morning while this part of the world was active.

00:45What do you find? Where do you see the lacuna?

00:48So, yes, today morning I was, I actually caught up with this news, fortunate news.

00:54And I got an opportunity to look at the footage of this aircraft taking off and within a couple of seconds crashing down.

01:04And my first instance is propulsion.

01:08There is an issue with the propulsion system or that is, you know, in layman's terms, the engine system.

01:14Right. Because the aircraft before it crashed down, it is in a control flight.

01:18So there is no issue with the control systems.

01:21So the issue is with the propulsion systems.

01:23It looks like both the engines somehow lost power.

01:26There could be various reasons I can list down.

01:29But both the engines somehow lost power.

01:31And because of that, the pilot could not steer the plane or give height, you know, altitude to the plane.

01:41Right.

01:41There is one footage, I'm sure you have seen it.

01:45It's from the CCTV of the airstrip, the runway.

01:50And it shows a dust cloud coming up right before the takeoff, when it finishes the takeoff strip, when it takes off.

02:00So there is a dust cloud.

02:02It's not generally that we see or is it the some mechanism that happens in every flight?

02:11So, I mean, when an aircraft is taking off, it is sucking immense amount of air from the front and pushing it back.

02:21Right.

02:21That is the whole mechanism of a jet engine.

02:24So it could be because of that.

02:26That could be one reason.

02:27Wind shear is another weather phenomenon which could lead to a crash like this.

02:36But if there's a wind shear, I did not see the weather which could result in a wind shear.

02:42And if there's a wind shear, the weather radar or the weather man in Ahmedabad could have identified that and they would have alerted the pilot.

02:53So I think this could be just dust being, you know, disturbed with the air being sunk by the jet engine.

03:00Right.

03:01Right.

03:03In this scenario, Mr. Faizan, how much scope of human error do you see or a technical glitch?

03:12So now human error could be from different aspects.

03:16It could be, was that a pilot error?

03:19Was it a maintenance error?

03:21So was it an error in advising the pilot from the air traffic control about the weather error?

03:29Prima facie, it does not appear to me that this is a pilot error because the pilot was trying everything possible, you know, to guide the aircraft.

03:40So maintenance is something I will definitely, you know, be looking at the maintenance data of the fuel system of the aircraft.

03:55There might be a possibility that the aircraft, both the jet engine, was starved of the fuel.

04:00And that might happen when, if they, either there was, you know, fuel, the fuel system might have collapsed.

04:10That could be one reason.

04:11Or there could be, another reason could be issues with the fuel, the impurities in the fuel.

04:17The fuel, you know, that could have, that could also be an issue.

04:22Right.

04:22So that is the subject of investigation, you know.

04:26Indeed.

04:27And Mr. Fezzan, you are in Dallas, Texas, a country which manufactures these Dreamliners, Boeing Dreamliners.

04:37And a year before this plane crash, a whistleblower had claimed of certain flaws in Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

04:48Is there any buzz in the U.S. regarding that?

04:51No, the whistleblower actually did about 737 MAX, you know, the two plane crash and that.

05:05I mean, when you are running an organization like Boeing and you have to deliver aircrafts, you are under contract, you know,

05:14you try to expedite things.

05:18Yes, Boeing is under some serious charges of, you know, irregularities.

05:26But as far as this bird is considered, you know, I have worked on the design of the avionic system of Boeing 787.

05:33The primary flight display, the multi-function display, the flight alignment system, navigation and guidance system.

05:38I have designed with this hands.

05:40So that was early 2000, 2004, 5, 6, 7.

05:47I mean, we were following impeccable process.

05:49There were checks.

05:50There were rechecks.

05:52Right.

05:52So we did not see that.

05:53Yes, from 737 MAX onwards was, you know, there was some things which start coming up.

06:02Even, but the case that we are discussing as of now is of a former engineer with a Boeing 787.

06:10And he had made that claim with 787 Dreamliners suffering from assembly defects that threatened safety.

06:17Although, yes, you are right, 747 has been embroiled with some mishaps mid-air also and during the runway also.

06:28This whistleblower, Sam Salehpore is the name that rings a bell there.

06:33He worked at Boeing for nearly two decades, accuses the company of putting profit over safety and retaliating against him

06:40after he raised concerns by involuntarily transferring him to the 777 program.

06:45Nonetheless, all these things would definitely come up.

06:49One critical aspect and a final question, sir, the United States has offered help and the NTSB has said that the part of FAA

07:01that they want to extend help in this crash.

07:08How equipped do you think NTSB and how helpful will it be, this United States body to come and probe?

07:15Oh wow, NTSB is one of the world's best aircraft, I mean, investigation agency.

07:21Not only aircraft, they investigate all transportation accidents, right?

07:24There's a transportation safety board.

07:27Very well equipped, you know, best resources you can think of.

07:32I mean, if NTSB joins this investigation, I mean, I'm very hopeful you're going to get some really good results pretty fast.

07:42Absolutely.

07:43Final word, how should India at least look at it?

07:47The families have lost their loved ones.

07:49It is tragic, definitely.

07:50But for future course of action and flight safety, do you think Boeing would be able to restore that kind of faith again?

07:59Boeing has a long way to go as far as faith and trust on the system is concerned.

08:04I mean, there could not be a worse time Boeing could get news like this.

08:08One, it was already dealing with 737 issues.

08:12And then last year, the failure of Boeing Starliner, which made Solita Williams, she got stuck up.

08:23And then this, I mean, it could not be a worse time they do that, right?

08:27As far as Indian aviation safety is considered, I mean, I think there's a lot to be done as well.

08:33We have seen last couple of days, last couple of years, very frequent plane crashes.

08:39Frequent plane crash means once a decade, twice a decade.

08:42If you see last one decade, there was a Bangalore plane crash.

08:45And there was this another plane crash, you know, which overshoot the runway.

08:50And in 2020, that's Air India Express.

08:53And now there's, I mean, India will have a long way to go to establish global aviation body trust on their process and procedures, safety process and procedures.