Air India plane crash: US expert flags RAT deployment, points to ‘dual engine failure’ in disaster | What this means?

Air India Plane Crash: On 12 June 2025, an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner operating flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick tragically crashed seconds after takeoff, resulting in the deaths of 241 passengers and crew, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

The Air India aircraft, carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members, lost contact less than a minute after departure and impacted a residential area near the airport. Two black boxes were recovered, but the exact cause of the crash remains unknown. However, aviation expert and former US Navy pilot Captain Steve Scheibner has highlighted the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) as a significant clue in his recent YouTube analysis.

Who is Captain Steve?

An aviation expert and YouTuber, Captain Steve is an aviator with over three decades of flying experience, having served as a US Navy pilot specialising in submarine hunting with the P-3 Orion before transitioning to a commercial career with American Airlines. 

According to his YouTube channel, he accumulated more than 14,000 hours of flight time and concluded his 36-year career with American Airlines in September 2022, completing his final flight with the airline.

Veteran Aviator Revises Air India Plane Crash Theory

Former US Navy pilot and aviation expert Captain Steve Scheibner revisited his analysis of the Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad, highlighting the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) as a crucial clue.

Drawing upon newly surfaced, clearer video footage, Captain Steve asserted, “There was some sort of dual engine failure”. Captain Steve has flown a wide range of aircraft, including the Boeing 727, 737, 757, 767, and 777 series, according to several media reports.

Visual Evidence: RAT Deployment

The enhanced video reveals a small grey dot beneath the aircraft, which Captain Steve identifies as the RAT. 

The US aviation expert, and an Air Force and Air National Guard pilot, flying aircraft, explained, “In the middle of the circle, you see kind of a protrusion on the belly of the aircraft... just underneath that you see a little grey dot... that little grey dot is the RAT. This is visual confirmation that the RAT deployed”.

Audio Confirmation: The High-Pitched Squeal

Further supporting his theory, Captain Steve, who has flown the Vought A-7D/K Corsair II and the Lockheed F-16C/D Fighting Falcon, pointed to the audio from the original crash video, noting, “You can hear it. It sounds like a high-pitched prop, like a little Cessna going by.”

This distinct sound, he explained, is the RAT’s two-bladed propeller spinning at high speed to generate emergency power, a noise not emitted by a normally functioning jet aircraft.

Survivor’s Testimony Aligns with RAT Theory

The lone survivor, Vishwas Kumar Ramesh’s account adds another layer of evidence. Seated near an emergency exit, the survivor reported hearing “a loud bang” and seeing the cabin lights flicker moments before impact.

Captain Steve, in his latest YouTube video stated, “That’s consistent with RAT deployment,” as the emergency system momentarily disrupts electrical reserves, causing lights to dim.

RAT: Last Resort for Catastrophic Failure

The RAT is a last-resort device on modern aircraft like the Boeing 787, designed to deploy automatically only in the event of a massive electrical, hydraulic, or dual engine failure.

Captain Steve remarked, “It’s not designed for an airplane that’s at 400 or 500 feet and loses all power—there’s no time to get the engines restarted; there’s no benefit to them, except it’s evidence for us that it was a dual engine failure most likely”.

The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, reaching a maximum altitude of approximately 625 feet (about 190 metres) above ground level before losing altitude rapidly and descending into a residential area.

Flight tracking data showed the aircraft’s signal was lost within a minute of departure, with the plane beginning its descent roughly 17 seconds after takeoff.

The crash site was located about 1.5 kilometres from the runway, indicating the aircraft did not gain significant height during its brief flight.

Air India Plane Crash: Flap and Bird Strike Theories Reconsidered

While earlier theories included improper flap settings, bird strike, or fuel contamination, Captain Steve now places the dual engine failure theory at the forefront.

He notes that initial investigations found no evidence of bird remains on the runway, making a bird strike unlikely. Fuel contamination, though possible, remains unconfirmed.

Air India Plane Crash: The Unanswered Question

Despite the mounting evidence for a dual engine failure, Captain Steve concedes, “We’re still at square one. We don’t know why both engines on a 787 flamed out after takeoff. It’s a real head-scratcher”.

It is to be noted that Air India, the Tata Group, the DGCA, and the Indian government have not yet officially cited the cause of the Air India plane crash.