Overview
- The Federation of Indian Pilots wrote to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau on Sunday requesting independent Boeing 787 simulator tests after simulator data submitted by Beasley Allen suggested the Ram Air Turbine produced usable power about 18 seconds after a fuel interruption, not the 4–5 seconds recorded in the AAIB preliminary timeline.
- Beasley Allen and its lead attorney D. Michael Andrews delivered simulator summaries and still images from Ahmedabad airport security footage to US and UK authorities arguing the RAT may have been deployed before the engines lost fuel, a sequence that would point to an earlier electrical or hydraulic problem rather than immediate pilot action.
- The AAIB says its inquiry has made significant progress and is in its final phase with the final report expected soon following international review, and the Civil Aviation Minister has reiterated investigators will follow ICAO protocols before publishing conclusions.
- Pilots and lawyers have also asked investigators to decode ACARS maintenance messages, provide CCTV and raw recorder imagery, and allow FIP‑nominated observers during any simulator runs so the RAT, fuel‑control switch movements and recorded acceleration can be independently correlated.
- The dispute matters because the Ram Air Turbine is an emergency wind‑driven backup that deploys when electrical or hydraulic power is lost, and resolving whether it deployed before or after fuel cutoff will shape whether the crash is attributed to a systems failure or to actions in the cockpit and will affect the families’ search for answers.