DAY 172 | Harold Meeker

What Caused Air India 171 Crash?

From the “comments” section:

@CaptainSteve777

16 hours ago

25,000-hour B777 captain here.  It may be pilot error.  Selecting flaps up after takeoff instead of the landing gear is my theory, and it explains why the gear stayed fully down. The crash pics show the L/E slats extended on the ground with little or no T/E flaps extended. That could not have been the T/O configuration, and "proves" the flaps were selected up after T/O.  Selecting flaps up at a speed behind the power curve would feel to the flying pilot like a loss of power, thus the "mayday lost power" radio call.  If true, the FDR will confirm.

@Ashley-wm7ix

14 hours ago

As an engineer, and having been involved with commercial aircraft investigations, you always start with the obvious. You have a “dirty” aircraft with little or no flaps for maximum lift, plus gear down adding drag. Most pilots know if you lose thrust at that speed while transitioning, you immediately configure the wing for maximum lift. Drop the flaps! The aircraft descends from loss of lift.  Cause to be determined. A RAT deployment isn’t obvious in the original video presented, however you are correct that a RAT deployment has a distinctive propeller sound.

@rmarshall6747

15 hours ago

In my opinion, it would appear that when the Pilot called for “gear up” that the co-pilot incorrectly performed a “flaps up” instead. This would explain why the gear is still down, while the flaps appear absent. With a fuel load for an 8.5 hour flight, and a near capacity passenger load, you cannot maintain proper lift in this configuration. Initial diagnosis would appear to be co-pilot error. Such a tragedy. Boeing should configure a “no flaps up” ability below certain altitudes and airspeeds after takeoff to mitigate for this potential scenario.

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