Air India 171 Update: What Captain Steeeve ISN'T saying

In this video, we're going to react to

Captain Steve reacting to the Wall

Street Journal dual engine failure

engine cut off switch quote unquote

exclusive. Now, quick catch up. This is

the checklist for a 787 Dreamliner,

which if you have a dual engine failure,

the checklist calls for fuel control

switches, both of them being set to cut

off, then run. Now, usually you set it

to cut off for about 1 second and then

back to run. It's more of like an off

and on again. Especially when you're at

600 ft off the ground, you want to move

these back to run fast. And these

switches are very unlikely to mistakenly

both be in the off position because a

you can't take off with them in the off

position and b they have gates that

require very specific manipulation of

the switch to actually get it to turn

off. Uh and then of course a second

memory item here is the ram air turbine

switch push and hold to basically

manually deploy the ram air turbine

which would also automatically deploy in

the event of a dual engine failure. But

this sort of verifies that. Now my name

is Kevin. I'm also a jet pilot except I

fly a Phenom 300. And Captain Steve is

referring to a Wall Street Journal

article which the Wall Street Journal is

calling an exclusive which I think is

really interesting. You can see his art

uh his piece here area India update fuel

cut off switches and cutoff position

according to Wall Street Journal. Now

this has been talked about for a while

uh over the past few days and this is

why I think it's odd that the Wall

Street Journal is saying this is an

exclusive because it was really uh I

mean there were a host of other

magazines and and uh you know uh air

news companies covering this already.

So, I find it odd that the Wall Street

Journal says this is exclusive, that

they're finding out about the plane's

fuel switches being at the focus of uh

this investigation. But what is

interesting about this Wall Street

Journal piece, and we'll see if Captain

Steve talks about it, but if you

actually scroll down to the bottom, take

a look at this. The US government and

industry officials have been frustrated

by what they perceive as the slow pace

of downloading, analyzing, and sharing

the context of the plane planes contents

of the plane's black boxes, the cockpit

voice recorder, and the data recorder to

indicate when switches were moved into

what positions and what was said inside

of the cockpit along with what kind of

warning messages or engine indicators

there could have been. Now, why is this

important? Well, because originally

india mentioned that they were going to

send these black boxes after finding

them which took two days and four days

to find which is quite a while but

originally they were going to send them

to the United States for investigation.

The United States got involved went to

India then the United States left. So

our FAA or NTSB uh inspectors came back

to the United States without the black

boxes because India decided that they

wanted instead to keep the black boxes

and do the data analysis themselves

where they recently opened a new lab for

analyzing such accident data. So

basically Indian investigators they want

to download the data themselves. And so

this is where we see the Wall Street

Journal says American investigators uh

remained but they have since returned

home basically empty hand empty-handed

without those black boxes which is

interesting because a lot of folks are

like hey we we kind of want to know

about this mostly because we also have

GE engines on these planes which is an

American company. This is a Boeing which

is an American company plane. So there's

a lot at stake for America and the

aviation community. Now, there's been a

lot of speculation around why would

these switches potentially have been in

the off position? Why would they stay in

the off position? Now, one theory is uh

that this was terrorism and basically

one of the pilots wanted to, you know,

check out which is very bad and

devastating and nobody wants to say

that. But look, the checklist is off uh

or cut off rather. It's technically not

off, it's technically called cut off uh

and then run. That's what the checklist

is, which is very different from a 737

or most other planes. Most other planes

when you look at their emergency

procedures for a dual engine failure,

you do not see touch fuel control valves

to cut off and run is very very unique.

And so, uh, even myself, I I was

surprised when I saw this checklist on

the 787 Dreamliner, but then again, I

don't fly the Dreamliner. So, this is

surprising and it's nice to look at this

checklist, but again, it shouldn't be

left in the cutoff position. In fact,

before that ram air turbine switch is

manually deployed, you're supposed to

move the switches back to run. So, did

they make a mistake? Did they move these

switches to cutoff and then run? And is

that why during their troubleshooting at

600 ft, they just didn't have enough

time to complete their checklist or

what? Let's see what Captain Steve has

to say about this. We're expecting the

first official findings until last

month. Sudden loss cuts off the position

of the switches and how

>> those this is what the switches look

like. By the way, this is some nice like

music and dramatic or whatever cool

editing. But the point is these little

arrows right here. They point to these

little guards that show you you have to

lift these switches up to switch them

down.

>> 71 crash. And this is not the video that

we wanted to make. In fact, uh the

information that we're now gleaning from

the preliminary report that's been

handed over from AIB to the Indian

government is nothing short of stunning.

Uh and I don't

>> Well, the report is not out yet. Mind

you, this is what a lot of people are

getting frustrated about. There are only

leaks of the report out. In fact, just

minutes ago, we got a report in the

Hindu that says, "Don't worry, the AIB's

preliminary report will be released,

quote, very soon." So, it's not out yet,

Captain Steve, but leaks are out. So, a

lot of this is regarding to, you know,

or or or how should I put it? Like, you

know how news companies do this? They're

like, according to people familiar with

the matter, you know, these anonymous

leaks or whatever, that's what you get

here. You don't have the official report

yet.

>> Don't use that word uh loosely. It is a

stunning conclusion and it surrounds the

fuel control switches. More on that um

in a minute, but there are major news

agencies now around the planet that are

reporting on the findings of that

preliminary report to

>> Okay, let's go to a little bitly after

>> here. Preliminary findings indicate,

this is from the Wall Street Journal,

that the fuel control switches were

turned off leading to a loss of thrust.

Correct. But the question is, were they

put back in the run position? This is

what the Wall Street Journal doesn't

tell you. They don't tell you that they

were turned off and then off at the time

of the crash. This is why it's it's

frustrating that the preliminary report

is not out yet because we're just

getting speculation around this. But

let's let's see if Steve clarifies this

>> for takeoff. So, in this video, we're

going to talk about three things. We're

going to talk about what happened, how

it happened, and then we're going to

delve into a little bit of why. We're

not going to get too far into that, but

we're going to try.

>> All right, come on.

>> Turbine or the rat deployed.

>> Yes, we know the ram journal that it was

a dual.

>> These are things that could potentially

cause the ram air turbine to deploy.

Hydraulic failure, electrical failure,

dual engine failure. It is possible,

mind you, that there was some kind of

catastrophic electrical failure that

ended up leading to a dual fadec uh sort

of reset or uh reversionary mode. In

fact, that's what some people are

talking about more consistently now on

the mainstream media that something

potentially with those fadeex reset. Uh

in fact, take a look at this piece right

here. You can see uh Air India 171 crash

TCMA failure may have caused Boeing 787

crash. And then if you jump down a

little bit to get some more color on

this. However, uh according to the

person that they've interviewed here,

per previous incidents, the chief on the

list is the TCMA

and the Fedc. The TCMA is the thrust

control malfunction accommodation and

FADC is the full authority digital

engine control. The TCMA tells the fedc,

which controls the air speed on the

thrust uh on the engines whether or not

it's on the ground. If the TMCA senses

it's on the ground, it throttles back

the engines without pilot input. Adding

that the Air India flight uh could have

potentially

uh been suspect or or let's see on the

on the Air India flight. The fact that

there are known computer problems causes

me to suspect the thrust control

malfunction accommodation and FADC could

have led to this problem. So basically

some error whe it's whether it's a

catastrophic electrical failure or or as

this person is saying the TCMA

resetting sending the signal that maybe

this aircraft was actually on the ground

when it wasn't pulling that thrust back

to zero could have been a factor here

which is obviously not what you want in

a takeoff. Now look I one of the reasons

people always ask me like Kevin why do

you cover this? Why do you cover this?

Well, because as a jet pilot and a

passenger, you know, I don't always fly,

but as a jet pilot and a passenger, I

want to know because I think it's not

only good for the aviation community,

but it's also good for passengers. I

mean, here's a video clip just so you

know, like I not only do I fly jets, but

you know, I don't just operate them in

simulators. I'll also go stall them in

real life because it's important. Here's

just an example so you could see it.

just a few days ago. Fox.

>> There we go.

>> Stall. Stall.

Stall. Stall.

Stall. Stall.

>> There it is.

>> Stall. Stall.

>> All right. Power.

>> So, you can actually see the pusher

there. Uh, and it's it's really we have

a hydraulic pusher on this aircraft. And

so, this is the yolk. That's not me

pushing it forward. It's actually a uh

stall prevention mechanism that tries to

get you to nose down before stalling.

>> Stall.

>> There it is.

>> Stall. Stall.

>> You could see that. And the again, I'm

only showing this to say like the reason

I'm so passionate about understanding

what's going on here is because I'm in

aircraft flying these and it's important

to know what's going on and what why

these failures are happening to try to

prevent mistakes in the future. So,

okay, this is all just catching up so

far. Captain Steve, we've seen the

video. We know the ram air turbine was

deployed. Let's get to the

>> after takeoff. So, let's answer some

objections to that. Is it possible that

there's a procedure where that could

take place? Well, the answer to that is

yes and no. There are procedures where

the pilots would in flight turn one of

or in some cases both fuel control

switches to cut off. Let me explain the

first situation. If you were to lose a

single engine and the Boeing 787 flies

just fine on one engine, even with the

gear down or if the

>> This is true, by the way. The planes fly

just fine. Flaps for takeoff or land

configuration. Uh gear out, one engine

flight fine. You got an engine on fire.

You're going to turn your fuel control

valve off because you want to stop

feeding that fire, right?

>> Flaps were retracted prematurely. In

fact, the Air India pilots went into the

simulator and tried all of those

scenarios. We did a video I think about

10 days ago where we talked here on this

channel about several of the theories of

how this airplane could have lost both

engines. The Air India pilots went into

the simulator after that and tested all

of those scenarios and with a total

>> different pilots mind you

>> electrical failure a total hydraulic

failure they could not induce a dual

engine failure from those two things

>> right that's what's so weird is like a

catastrophic electrical failure even

losing all of your power doesn't turn

your engines off we think it was

something having to do with like the

FedEx reverting to a reversionary mode

but that means both of them failed

which is weird. And I think that's why

the person's talking about the TCMA

because it's one thing that could cause

both those fadeex to tell the engines to

go to idle. Even with the flaps brought

up prematurely and the gear down on one

engine, the airplane still flew out.

>> Correct. That doesn't matter. But if one

engine had failed right at rotate, is it

conceivable that one of the pilots

mistakenly grabbed the other fuel

control lever and

this? Absolutely not. There was no rush

to turn the engine off. I've heard this

theory before. I think it's crazy to

think that there was a single engine

failure and they accidentally turned the

wrong engine off. Could it happen? Yes.

I just think it's crazy because in a jet

there's no rush to turn it off unless

it's on fire. The the Now, is it

possible that there were warnings that

the engines a certain engine was on fire

and then they've proceeded to the wrong

uh uh you know checklist maybe. But we

certainly didn't see the engines on fire

and that seems like a low chance. But

let's just say maybe there's a

possibility. But it seems crazy to me

because when people fly a jet, it

doesn't matter if the darn thing is off

or on, like you know, the fuel valve is

off or on if you have just a flame out

because the drag isn't going to change.

It's not like a propeller plane where

you're like, "Oh crap, pitch for a blue

line. Oh no, I need to feather the

prop." You know, you don't have to do

that. There's no feathering a jet

engine. So I I don't I don't like this

argument.

>> Put it to cutoff. Well, it's not very

probable. And here's why. Our training,

everybody's training follows this

pattern. If you have an engine failure

on rotate, which we test all of the

time, right? When we're in training in

the simulator, we practice this all the

time. You don't touch,

>> not just in the simulator. I do it in

real life.

>> Anything until a minimum of 400 ft. And

you normally don't touch anything until

about 1,000 ft. There's something called

an engine out altitude.

>> Okay? So some people usually you get

positive rate of climb gear up 400 ft

you go flap up autopilot yaw dampener on

uh and some people do that at a th00and

but these are like everybody's got their

different systems and procedures here

but yes there is usually a minimum

altitude where you're just not dinking

with stuffitude and that's set for every

takeoff for just that scenario where

you'd lose a single engine. The pilot

flying will say my aircraft. The other

pilot will then begin to bring up the

checklist. The pilot flying will say

quick reference checklist. They'll pull

out a laminated checklist. They'll then

begin to coordinate their lucky you got

a laminated checklist, bro. That's for

training.

In training, you use a laminated

checklist. Usually, you have a booklet

that you have to go page through. The

quick reference handbook is actually

pretty thick. Uh but but you know, you

get pretty comfortable at opening it

quickly. efforts back and forth to get

through the first three or four steps on

that checklist after they get above 400

feet and the airplane is climbing

safely. And mind you,

Steve's not talking about memory items

here. The first few items on each of the

most critical checklist items are memory

items. That's critical. And so I'm a

little surprised Steve's not talking

about this. This is the quick reference

handbook from the Boeing 787. These are

memory items. Above the dotted lines are

memory items. So, you must remember

these. And the whole point is that you

do this before ever needing to reference

the stupid manual because it's critical

you do it right away. You know, it's um

something that you just don't have time

for. You need to react right away. Which

is why it's entirely possible these

pilots did everything as intended. that

they did their memory items and they

were just too low because of some other

failure such as that T uh MCA

and the landing gear has been brought

up. At that point, the pilot flying will

say let's start the checklist. The pilot

monitoring will do the first item which

would be uh auto throttle and they'll

point to the auto throttle the switch

and they'll say left side or right side

depending on which engine has failed and

then they both concur with that and they

turn it off. Next is the thrust levers

and then the one pilot flying.

>> That was a diagram of both of the

switches turning off, which was a bad

example because the editor didn't

realize that you were only supposed to

show one of these switches going off.

But this part doesn't matter. We're

going to fast forward a little bit. He's

just going through some of the procedure

for a single engine shutdown. And I've

kind of already ranted about that

enough. Let's look at this. I like this

diagram.

>> Failure that's also on that quick

reference checklist. The dual engine

failure requires the pilot monitoring to

take both fuel control levers and place

them to cut off and then back to run.

That's the entire procedure. They don't

sit and cut off for a while. It's not

like you count to 1 2 3 and then put

them back.

>> It's not the entire procedure because

you also need to deploy the Ramire

turbine, but that's okay.

>> You go right to cut off, right back to

run. Now, uh that procedure obviously

was not done. There is never

>> Well, we don't know that it wasn't done.

That's the problem. We don't know

because we don't actually have the full

preliminary report. We don't know that

the procedure wasn't done. Yes, we have

heard rumors that people that

investigators are focusing on the fuel

control switches, but we do not know

that they did not complete this

procedure. We know the ram air turbine

was deployed which does mean that we

could have reset the fuel control valves

and deployed the ram air turbine

but it was too late to gain altitude

anyway because the you know the fedex

had reverted to zero thrust.

>> Ever in the history of commercial flight

ever been a procedure where you take

both fuel cutff switches and put them to

cut off and leave them there

>> especially not seconds after rotate.

Now, one of the things that's bothered

me in this whole scenario from the

beginning was how quickly the ram air

turbine or the rat deployed uh shortly

after takeoff, and I'm talking four or

five seconds after takeoff, that rat

comes out, the rat is there as a last

resort.

>> It's in the checklist, bro. It's in the

check. I don't think Steve looked at

this checklist.

>> In case there is a dual engine failure,

and a dual engine failure normally takes

some time to progress. Those big old

engines need to spool down. It might

take 30 to 60 seconds for them to

completely fail to send the message to

the rat to deploy. It's designed to be

something that happens at altitude,

maybe 35,000 ft. Both engines flame out.

They they spool down. The rat then

deploys to give you electric hydraulic.

It doesn't give you any thrust, but it

gives you enough to fly the airplane and

shoot an approach when you get down and

talk on a radio. Now, that rat came out

almost immediately. Why would that rat

come out so quickly? Because the whole

flight didn't last more than Did you

push the button?

>> 60 seconds. The only explanation is that

both of those fuel control levers were

placed to cut off. That would

>> No, it's in the checklist. It's not the

only explanation. A Steve

immediately deploy the RAT. The RAT now

the airplane is in what's called

airborne logic as opposed to ground

logic. What's the difference between

those two? When the airplane is on the

ground and there's weight

>> weight on wheel switches. It's okay. We

get it. I'm not going to watch all of

this.

>> Goes to the run position and then it

stays there for the duration of the

flight unless of course there's an

engine failure and you need to bring it

back to the cut off position. But taking

it from run to cut off is also that same

three-step procedure. You have to grasp

it, pull it up over the detent, pull it

down, and release it cuz it's

spring-loaded to the cup.

>> He's just talking about how the little

switches work. We've already talked

about that many times.

>> You may never have an answer to that. be

quite honest with you, never have an

answer to that. Uh but we do need to

delve into that because I think it's

hugely important and it's a big question

that's sitting out there that at least

we need to try to attempt to answer. Uh

and that's where my other area of

expertise comes in. I'm not just Captain

Steve who flies an airliner for a major

airline and I'm also Dr. Steve. And I've

been a doctor now for I think I had my

doctorate about 15 years ago. Uh, but

I've been a trained, experienced

counselor for well over 30 years and

I've counseledled thousands of people,

families, individ. We're going into

mental health. This is where we go

mental health and the terrorism side.

>> Most extensive training uh any pilot

gets on through that program eight years

earlier as a student and I earned my

wings.

>> Oh yeah. What is it?

>> Next evaluate there. It's student in the

just is I just said that I said look my

aircraft. I I said, "Let's What's going

on, man?" And he explained to me that he

had been up until about 3:00 in the

morning on the phone with his father who

lived in the Midwest, and his father was

attempting to commit suicide. His dad

had a loaded gun in his lap.

>> Okay. All right. So, this is the last

part of this video is about mental

health, which is very sad. Uh, and yeah,

pilot fatigue, very real issue. You know

what's actually incredible? When I I was

just looking at this data. Uh I looked

at my

uh health data in my app and I looked at

my uh what was it? My uh what did what

what did I look at? Was it the VO V2s or

something? Oh, an easy Yeah, I mean

that's an option, too. But an easy one

that shows it nicely is I want you to

see this. And I'll tell you, there's

something crappy about becoming a pilot

and going through all the training. Uh,

and it's this. Can you see where in this

last year I had a substantial amount of

pilot training?

This is a step counter.

It's the whole

December, January, February, March,

April.

Like actually staying fit as a pilot is

hard because it's so much classroom work

and studying and and actually sitting in

a plane flying and you're not walking

obviously. So um fatigue, depression,

lack of physical fitness, these are all

things that could be components of well

sadness that yeah could also lead to the

unfortunate possibility that there was

an oopsy dupy that shouldn't have

happened. Now, do we think that's

likely? It depends. We still don't have

that preliminary report, and that's what

everybody is looking for right now is

why is that preliminary report getting

delayed? There are a lot of suspicions

now circulating around that. But I will

say the good news on this channel is if

anything or anything that we talked

about here makes you nervous at all, you

can go to met kevvin.com/life.

That's one e because we've met each

other now. at kevin.com/life. Hit enter

and you can get life insurance in as

little as 5 minutes. Can Apple pay and

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insurance that Lauren and I use. Check

it out at metk.com/life.

Paid sponsor of the channel.

>> Why not advertise these things that you

told us here? I feel like nobody else

knows about this.

>> We'll we'll try a little advertising and

see how it goes.

>> Congratulations, man. You have done so

much. People love you. People look up to

you.

>> Kevin Praath there, financial analyst

and YouTuber. Meet Kevin. Always great

to get your take.