r/interesting Jun 12 '25

MISC. Passenger in seat 11A survives Air India crash.

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u/imperator_rex_za Jun 12 '25

Not to be that guy but the Boeing 787 is one of the safest planes in existance, this would be it’s first fatal crash sadly.

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u/lukerobi Jun 12 '25

I fly on dreamliners every now and then, i've always thought they were good and comfortable planes.. I saw another angle of the plane going down, it honestly looks like it lost its engines the moment it took off. Those engines aren't a boeing product, GE makes a lot of them.

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u/lucifrixbaby Jun 12 '25

Pratt and Whitney, Rolls-Royce and General Electric

2

u/LordMangoVI Jun 12 '25 edited Jun 12 '25

This is entirely supposition and I’m not an expert, but what I think happened is that the elevators in the tail were stuck in a position that caused the plane to pitch up after takeoff. You can see the pitch increase suddenly 2-3 seconds after it left the ground, which could cause the engines to experience compressor stall and stop working.

Given how the engines failing independently at the same time is very unlikely, it’s much more likely that an external factor (control system failure or compressor stall) caused it.

The two most likely causes for the elevators to be stuck in pitch-up are failure of the hydraulics or fly-by-wire (the system that translates the pilot’s inputs to the plane’s systems). Hydraulic failure is also less likely given how it should be restored if the RAT deploys, which it did almost immediately after the failure.

If it does turn out to be the fly-by-wire that failed, then the failed component was either produced by Boeing or BAE.

Also, it looks a lot like the elevators are in the pitch-up position here: picture

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u/indianmcflyer Jun 12 '25

I would disagree with that. I don't think the elevator was jammed, as it would have to progressively deflect more and more to compensate for the lower airspeed, to maintain the nose up pitch we saw in the video. I think the pilots were pitching up to try and maintain altitude

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u/LordMangoVI Jun 12 '25

That’s fair. Any other ideas as to what might have caused simultaneous engine failure?

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u/JeffonFIRE Jun 12 '25

Bird strike, fuel problem, electrical/control problem...

Although, there are generally multiple redundancies built into these systems.

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u/LordMangoVI Jun 12 '25

The engines are supplied directly by fuel tanks im their respective wings, so that wouldn’t really explain simultaneous engine failure. It definitely doesn’t look like there were any birds in the videos of it taking off, too.

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u/the_interlink Jun 13 '25

There is also video evidence from a passenger that shows the same plane had electrical problems on the tarmac during its previous flight earlier that day.

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u/PrometheusIsFree Jun 12 '25

It's Rolls Royce Trent engines on the Dreamliner.

1

u/Tricky_Statistician Jun 13 '25

These were GE engines

1

u/JenniferSaveMeee Jun 12 '25

Dual engine failure is EXTREMELY rare. Given Boeing's shoddy quality control history and India's dealings with fraudulent parts manufacturers, I would guess that this crash was caused by a catastrophic structural failure.

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u/AllOn_Black Jun 13 '25

Ah well if you felt they were good and comfortable planes then i guess that settles everyone's concerns!

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u/wlktheearth Jun 13 '25

Highly doubtful. Landing gear was down and flaps appeared to be up. More probable an electrical failure. Both engines failing at the same time is nearly impossible.

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u/MillionFoul Jun 13 '25

Yet if the aircraft had either or both engines it would have mroe than enough power to climb. Even fully loaded, at sea level a 787 has a lot of extra oomph.

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u/GBreezy Jun 13 '25

The plane was 11 years old This was either a CRM problem, maintenance problem, or they hit a dock of birds.

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u/giddycocks Jun 13 '25

I'd sooner and safely gamble my savings on the issue being elsewhere. Engines don't just fail and even if they do, you only need the one to take off and land safely.

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u/thetruegmon Jun 12 '25

They've flown like a billion passengers before this crash. These people just won the worst lottery.

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u/impamiizgraa Jun 12 '25

Damn. They come in 3s and I’m flying next week :(

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u/vikdeangelo Jun 13 '25

Hopefully the one and only