Posts by user "nrunning24" [Posts: 5 Total up-votes: 24 Pages: 1]

Former Boeing Engineer, actually worked on this specific airplane prior to delivery. To me this all comes down to if the RAT was actually out. If not, lots of different factors people have already debated and likely some sort of pilot error that I'll let the pilots on this forum debate.

If the RAT did come out, then we are looking at simultaneous dual engine failure basically at V2 which is so improbable (without bird strikes or purposeful actions) that it is basically impossible. This is a 330 Min ETOPS aircraft. I saw no rudder deflection or yaw indicating 1 engine failed first and then they shut down the second one on accident.

Only two realistic options for me in that case are:
1. cutoff of the engines by the pilots. Either on purpose or accidental.
2. maintenance actions by the Air India ground team that caused issues with the engine system or power generation system.

2 is the only one I haven't seen mentioned here and I say this as a no longer Boeing employee. We STRUGGLED with AI during the EIS. They were notorious for just parking airplanes and then using them as spare parts and then screaming for help when they had to go back and get the planes ready to fly again.

Still think 1 is much more likely but will just throw out that 2 since there were complaints from previous flights about IFE and AC which to me speaks to issues with the power generation possibly being neglected.

I can't tell you off the top of my head. I was an engineer at final assembly (mostly final body join and functional testing) and then did support for airlines post delivery (working with their engineering teams on maintenance and operation) so I wasn't intimately involved in anything data wise on the FDR. My personal belief is that it should end up being glaringly obvious why the engines stopped working with the data they have, just to many coincidences happening at literally the exact same time for it to be some minuscule problem never envisioned before. Pretty sure FDR and CVR will tell all.

You would never know, since they are just parked for "maintenance" usually happens when the customer doesnt want to pay for new parts for things that break. In the cases of AOG situations many airlines probably rob a part or two from an aircraft currently in a longer check just to not have to wait for shipping or if there are shortages. AI was just one of the worst in taking perfectly good airplanes, robbing them blind for parts and then asking for help months later when they wanted to get them flying again. Maybe its better now but they were very much an outlier among other 787 operators.

I wasn't a power or engine guy so I don't know the systems well enough to make a guess. The fact that previous flights had IFE and AC issues though does speak to general problems in the systems.

What I will say is that we are all so involved with our airlines and engineers definitely come home shaking their heads from airline visits sometimes. I was at my 787 airlines main offices monthly, you can tell what the operation is like quickly. AI was well known for being cheap and not wanting to do have stock of common replacement parts, and basically just used a few airplanes as their stockpiles. No one came back impressed from their visit there. Does that mean they are unsafe? No, not necessarily just that its not the most well run operation from my experience.

As someone who has worked with numerous airline engineering teams, companies and cultures where the small things are done well are also places where the big things are done well. The problem is AI usually ONLY fixes critical items so they are "legal" but all it takes is once mistake or misstep and their can be a major problem. I can assure you that any company that operates their interiors in the state that AI does also doesn't do all the things they should be doing proactively.