Revealed: Both Engines Of Air India 171 Died Mid-Air – What Really Brought Down The Dreamliner

India.com

15 hours ago

New Delhi: The Air India 171 flight lifted off the Ahmedabad runway on a clear morning. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner showed no signs of trouble. No warnings. No delays. Nothing to raise eyebrows.
Seconds later, it lost altitude. Fast. The descent rate crossed 475 feet per minute. Then came the crash.
Now, an investigative report by The New York Times has revealed what many had feared. Both engines of the aircraft failed at the same time.
This is the first confirmation backed by real data. A Wall Street Journal report earlier hinted at a dual-engine failure. But it left room for doubt. The NYT investigation has narrowed that gap.
Experts analysed crash footage and found no signs of asymmetrical thrust. When one engine fails, planes typically swerve. This flight did not. That detail changed everything.
The emergency call made by the pilot seconds before impact adds more weight. He reported losing thrust. Said he could not lift the aircraft. Aviation safety veteran Jeff Guzzetti reviewed the video. He saw no yawing, no smoke, no flame. That pointed to a full and simultaneous power loss.
But how can both engines fail together?
Two main theories have emerged. One – contaminated fuel entered both engines. Two – someone fed incorrect flight data into the system before takeoff. Investigators have not ruled out a software-induced glitch either.
Aviation attorney Mary Schiavo said modern aircraft software, if wrongly configured, can create a cascading failure. Some pilots have experienced similar glitches before. But never in this way.
There is more.
The plane might have used a full runway backtrack for takeoff. CCTV footage supports that theory. Experts think the pilots wanted extra distance, possibly due to weight or engine concerns. But that is still under review.
The Dreamliner's landing gear never fully retracted. Wreckage shows the wheels tilted, half inside. That could mean a power failure midway through retraction.
Wing slats were deployed. That is another critical detail. These slats increase lift and are often used during emergency descents. Burn marks on the right wing suggest the slats were extended before the crash, not on impact.
Flight tracking data has troubling gaps. Black box recordings are under analysis at the AAIB lab. So far, the data suggests the aircraft took off clean, but failed to climb after a short time airborne.
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau recreated the flight in a simulator. They used the same settings – gears down and slats extended. The simulated plane stayed airborne. It did not crash. That means something else went wrong.
And that something is likely the engines.
The experts say modern aircraft engines are extremely reliable. Dual failures are almost unheard of. Which is why this crash has stunned global aviation circles.
There were 241 people on board. Only one survived. The final report is still weeks away. But the early findings point toward a rare and catastrophic systems failure.
And investigators still do not know if it began on the ground or in the sky.