Posts by user "PC767" [Posts: 12 Total up-votes: 0 Pages: 1]

Incidental, but I wonder the camera operator was actually trying to capture. Did the aircraft fly into his shot or had something occurred which made him, (sounds like a him), grab his device and start recording? The footage from X is not CCTV, its a hand held device, probably a phone, and not professional. Was capturing the final moments of this unfortunate aircraft a coincidence?

British national survives plane crash, Indian media reports | UK News | Sky News

I've just watched the interview on Sky News. I too picked up on the green and white light coming on. He is sat at an exit so the green and white light is most likely the emergency exit sign illuminating. But on take off? They usually illuminate on electrical power loss.

He also states, 'soon after take off . . . maybe 5 to 10 seconds, and it felt like the plane was struck, it felt like something had happened . . . the pilot was trying to give it a bit of a push, but it was struggling . . .'

Not sure what the witness means by pilot trying to give it a bit of a push, does he perhaps mean he heard the engines getting louder.

We of course understand witness reliability, particularly with trauma, but he is the only human witness present in the aircraft that is able to speak.

The emergency exit sign on a B787 at the exit rows. Illuminates with loss of electrical power.

I think because human error is more palatable than a yet unknown fundamental failing possible in 1100 B787s.

Behind the horror of this accident there will be people and organisations secretly discussing whether to boycott Air India or ground B787s.

In the meantime the majority of us are considering the horrendous human cost regardless of the cause being faulty pilots or faulty planes.

On the whole I agree and I say so as a former police officer who interviewed many witnesses, and as a current Barrister candidate, (with 25yrs flying inbetween).

However it is the small details which do not conform to, for instance, a survivors idea of a crash. In this case the detail of a green and white light coming on after take off. I don't speak Gujarati so I rely on the translation of Sky News.

https://news.sky.com/story/air-india...o-die-13383080

During the thread it has been stated that the lights were flashing, flickering or came on and off. The Sky translation states a green and white light came on. I can identify this as the emergency exit sign on the B787. It is located at all exits, one of which the witness was sat at.

I offer no suggestion as to what occurred or why the aircraft crashed. But in considering the available evidence, the illumination, after take off, of a green and white light, identifyable as an emergency exit sign, must be given weight. Further the functionality of that sign must be examined.

Very early on I pondered why the person filming the aircraft from a building did so, as have others. Did something specificly out of character cause him to start filming and could that be evidence.

The answer is no. He was simply in the right place at the wrong time.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../121862125.cms

One would hope, but, whilst there has been confirmation that the EAFRs have been recovered, nothing has been reported about their state or whether they have been downloaded or examined.

If the data is readable there may be a lot of politics and reputation on how that data may be interpreted. Behind the veneer of international cooperation vested interests will be being considered, advocated and agreed.

It, unfortunately, is naive to think that politics will not have a silent presence in agreeing a press release. Boeing and GE are flagship USA companies. Air India is the flagship carrier of India.

Investigations of all types first establish what happened, then how and why, before recommendations and actions. There is a possibility that they know the what, but the how and why incur liability.

Without incurring the wrath of the moderators, can I add another improbable and maybe with current understanding impossible possibility.

Electro magnetic interference. Intended or accidential.

I apologise that it might be another rabbit hole, but at present, and to quote the esteemed tdracer, 'never say never' and 'this is perplexing'.

An interesting statement.

Does the statement imply that something noted on the crashed aircraft was not present on the remaining aircraft.

If the investigative team are aware of what happened, are they also aware of why it happened. As noted elsewhere - surely far too soon to be certain. If they are not aware of the why or how, how can they be certain there are no safety deficiencies.

Similarily, aircraft and maintainence comply with existing standards. It may well have been the case that existing standards were applied to the crashed aircraft. Does the statement imply that there was nothing wrong with either the Boeing aircraft or the Air India standards. What about the GE engines, are they considered part of the description of both aircraft and standards.

Or was the entire exercise merely a PR wash which achieved nothing other than optics that 787s and Air India are safe because standards are being maintained and aeroplanes have no issues.

I'm tempted to read nothing into the statement because it came from the DGCA rather than the AAIB of India.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The situation is simply that a human hand moved the fuel switches for reasons unknown. I clung on to the very thin chance that the reason could have been electrical with words such as 'transition', but tdracer's last post extinguished that slim posibility. From day one I have assumed the loss of thrust on both engines and that the only logical explanation could be fuel cut off switches.

I've been a pilot for over 35yrs, 12 of which as a paid professional and around airlines in my earlier iteration as cabin crew. Book ending my aviation career I've been in law, as an investigator and now examininer of facts.

There is a strong possibility that it will never be established why the switches were moved. My community/previous community will take the liability for this incident, I'd wager something or other on that. If there is ambiguity or a dearth of evidence to be challenged, the easiest target will be the pilots. The reputations of Boeing and Air India will be saved.

At this time there is very little technical detail to be discussed on what happened and how it happened.

Until either a substantive leak, a further report or the final report is out, I'm out of the thread. I'd suggest many others have the same patience.

783 posts ago, (or there abouts depending on when this post is published), I stated I was leaving this discussion because I had nothing significant to add and I felt the PR had brought discussion to a temporary end.

I held that the fuel control switches had been transisted to cut because that is where the evidence pointed and more importantly, that is what the investigators stated.

But curiosity has got the better of me so I've scanned through the subsequent posts in case I'd missed something relevant or important. I have not.

Before I dip out again I want to remove my horsehair wig, reach past the pilot peaked hat and put on my dusty old custodian helmet - police. I dealt with many suicides from finding bodies, informing and liasing with families/loved ones and writing statements and reports for the Coroners Court. My experience tells me that suicide is only rational to the suicidal sole. Any attempts to discredit the theory based on why they might do it, how they may do it and what might be a better way are irrelevant.

Suicide cases I have dealt with have been difficult because of personal, cultural or financial reasons, be that of the suicidal person or those they left. Pride suprisingly is often important - not wanting to be thought badly of. You may question, theoretically, how one cannot but be thought badly of when taking the lives of several hundred people results from ones action. Thats a rational response, a suicidal person may, theoretically, prefer people to consider that they died heroically. It makes little sense to those of us not contemplating suicide.

I know of a case a former colleague dealt with where a suicidal person drove head on into another vehicle which contained an innocent family. His family understood he had carried out a threat he had made, but there was insufficent evidence for the court. His death, and another was held as accidental.

I dealt with people who, for instance, simply hanged themselves, thus voiding life insurance. The family asked if it could be reported as an accident. It could not. I dealt with the case of a man who threw himself of a bridge, landing on his head, at my feet. His final words to me being "I'm not going to be the devil's dog, you know what happens now." The family had try to supress his psycological issues and refused to accept a verdict of death by suicide from the Coroner's Court, when it clearly was. I dealt with a case of a young man who drove his vehicle at speed into a railway bridge. On the face of it a terrible accident, but with background and witness evidence it was accepted a suicide. I could go on.

Now lets be clear, i am not saying this incident was the action of a suicidal pilot. The evidence does not exist in the public domain. However I want to respond to contributors who are opposed to the notion.

I'll repeat myself from my last post. The switches were moved. We may never know why, but they were moved.