Does RAT Hold Key to Air India Probe: Deployed Before Crash

New Delhi, : India saw oneof its worst aviation disasters, in which at least 270 people were killed, last week and new evidence indicates that both engines of the Air India Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 may have failed or it may have suffered a total electrical or
hydraulic malfunction. Clearer audio and video from the June 12 crash show that the Ram Air Turbine or RAT – a small propeller-like device which deploys automatically when there is a dualengine failure or total electronic or hydraulic failure – was deployed on the Dreamliner, which crashed just 32 seconds after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport. The distinct highpitched whine of the RAT can be clearlyheard in the audio in the absence of theroar of the aircraft’s jet engines and its deployment can also be made out in the video, which shows the plane struggling to maintain altitude and then beginningto descend rapidly. The RAT uses wind speed to generate emergency power and experts say its deployment, which happens automatically, points to three possible
scenarios – both engines of the aircraft failed, it suffered an electronic failure, or its hydraulics failed. Veteran Indian Air Force Pilot and aviation expert Captain Ehsan Khalid said he had suspected dual engine failure on the day of the crash itself, after the video emerged, as the aircraft was not ‘yawing’ (turning abruptly) and it is nearly impossible for birds to hit both engines at the same time. “Dual engine failure was almost everybody’s guess. The lone survivor of the crash had also said he heard a sound, which could be the deployment of the RAT; the racing of an engine, which could have been the propeller turning and picking up speed; and he saw red and blue lights, which
could have been the emergency power connecting and the emergency lights turning on,” he said. “The aircraft was actively flying and it was not able to maintain its height. It was a dual loss of power, which would obviously lead to lower speed and a loss of lift (the upward force that opposes gravity and allows an aircraft to fly) and the plane will continue to go down the way it did. The Ram Air Turbine deploys when there is a dual engine failure or electrical failure or hydraulic failure,” he explained. “Airplanes are configured to climb out with just one engine operational, it is a standard manoeuvre known as a one engine out climb. That manoeuvre additionally requires that the rudder be deflected in the direction of the working engine to balance out the differential yawing movement, which we don’t see here… The loss of power is identical on both sides of the airplane,” he emphasised.

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