YouTuber Gaurav Taneja, who is popularly known as Flying Beast online, offered his detailed theory about what might have caused the Air India Flight 171 plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12. Taneja has posted regularly about the tragedy; hours after it occurred, he suggested that it might be a rare case of ‘dual engine failure’. Later, when other commentators indicated that pilot error might have been one of the reasons behind the crash, he defended the deceased pilots and said that they are the easiest people to blame because they aren’t there to defend themselves. But, in his new video, which runs nearly an hour long, Taneja seemed to suggest that pilot error may partially be the reason why Air India 171 crashed into a medical college moments after takeoff. Taneja is a graduate of IIT Kharagpur, and served as a commercial pilot for a decade.
He explained that based on the data that he has accessed and the experts he has spoken to, he has certain theories based on his expertise and experience. He said that he doesn’t wish to attract any legal trouble by implicating any person or organisation. He debunked several theories surrounding fuel contamination and bird strikes. He said that modern aircraft are fully equipped to fly on one functional engine, and that a dual engine failure is virutally unheard of in modern aviation.
Also read – Amid 13 Air India 787 cancellations, Gaurav Taneja lauds pilots for putting their foot down and ‘refusing to accept’ unsafe aircraft
Taneja said that Air India Flight 171 took off later than expected, which could be because one engine had failed while it was on the runway. Video footage of the takeoff, he said, shows a large dust cloud form just as the plane lifts off, which suggests that it was near the end of the runway. He simulated the takeoff with the exact specifications available, and discovered that the pilots had basically half a minute to figure out what to do while things started going wrong. He said that they appeared to be ‘startled by the extra load and the engine failure’.
“The first shocking information we got our hands on was the fact that the aircraft consumed more runway than normal. This convinced me that I was going in the wrong direction… The aircraft was close to the maximum takeoff weight, which is 2.20-2.25 tonnes. Because the pilots decided to proceed with the takeoff, we have to assume that whatever engine failure happened was after the point of no return. They could’ve aborted the takeoff only up till a point on the runway… If both engines had failed, the aircraft wouldn’t have taken off at all. But even with one engine down, it took more runway than expected.” He said that this may be due to overloading of cargo, but made it clear that he has no proof of these claims.
Taneja explained that weight plays a key role, because the heavier an aircraft is, the more fuel it burns. This is why airlines charge money from passengers for extra baggage. He continued with his theory, “Imagine if there was overloading, and one engine failed on the runway. The pilots must’ve been startled. They would’ve seen the perimeter wall of the airport and wondered why the aircraft hadn’t taken off… They were already tense about the engine failure and the delayed lift-off. They were distracted. They were supposed to pull up the landing gear at around 100 feet. Now, listen carefully. They climed for 100-150 feet with a damaged engine, and forgot to pull the landing gear up. In the Boeing 787, pilots are required to follow ‘memory items’ in the event of an engine failure. When they hit 400 feet, the pilot ‘flying’ pulled the thrust idle switch for the faulty engine, and the pilot ‘monitoring’ pulled the fuel control switch off for the wrong engine… One engine was damaged on the ground, the other engine they killed themselves.”
Taneja had previously defended the pilots against criticism. “At 400 feet, they were without power, and the aircraft started losing altitude. Pulling the fuel control switch off and the engine fire switch are irreversible actions on a Boeing aircraft. Engines will not come back.” To conclude, he said, “Late takeoff because one engine failed, pilots were startled, they didn’t pull the gear up… Once they have cut the wrong engine, they are without power. You can’t do anything after that. You’re going down, and you have 10-12 seconds before impact. The footage shows they tried to pull the nose up, but the plane crashed into a building, and the worst disaster in the history of aviation happened.”
Story continues below this ad
Taneja said that there could be many reasons behind pilot error, such as fatigue and training. Defending the pilots in a previous video, Taneja had said, “Pilots outside India are claiming that the crash happened because the Indian pilots retracted flap instead of the gear because the videos before the crash show that the gear is down. Pilots gear up when the flight is 100 feet above the surface. They said wings are supposed to create lift, which is supposed to keep the aircraft in the air and when you retract the flaps there is a loss of lift and that loss of lift caused the flight to go down but I have a serious problem with this theory.”
