so I will watch it play through and then

I will give my description so this is

shot from a apartment nearby

ah man that’s just brutal

hate seeing that hey everybody welcome

to the video it’s Ryan on the Max

Afterburner channel i’m a former F-15 e

combat fighter pilot F-16 Thunderbird

pilot Boeing 737 pilot Airbus A220 pilot

that I’ve flown airliners for many years

and so I wanted to give my take on the

Air India flight 171 crash first of all

I want to say just love and support and

prayers to the family members of those

affected i’ve got the lights in the

background changed to yellow yellow is a

signal and sign of support and so I’m

sending that to those that lost loved

ones the passengers the flight crew and

anyone on the ground who’s lost their

life they’re saying about 242 people on

board the aircraft have perished and

likely people on the ground as well so

my number one objective for this video

is to show support love and prayers to

all those affected and then secondly I

want to reassure the flying public that

flying is safe and I’ll give my

description and breakdown of what I

think happened to this Boeing 787 it’s a

very safe aircraft 14 years of stellar

safety records on this thing but this

video at the end I will give my full

debrief and breakdown of what I think

happened but there will be a full

investigation so definitely check that

out remember I’m just a pilot on YouTube

so let’s watch the video here we go so I

will watch it play through and then I

will give my description so this is shot

from a apartment nearby

ah man that’s just brutal

hate seeing that okay let’s rewind to

the beginning of the video so I want to

take I want you to take a peek right

here so on the Boeing 787 the wings kind

of flex and bend up they come from

underneath the fuselage and they flex up

it’s a hyperefficient wing and it’s very

skinny in this picture which is not what

I would want to be seeing right here

just after takeoff the what’s going to

happen is there’s going to be a pilot

flying and a pilot monitoring so the

pilot flying is going to initiate the

rotation and in this case on the Boeing

787 it’s a yoke so they’re going to pull

back on the yoke and then the pilot

monitoring is going to say positive rate

once you have a positive VVI that’s your

vertical velocity indicator showing that

you are climbing away from the runway

then the pilot flying is going to say

gear up the pilot monitoring is going to

reach over and put the gear up but

they’re not going to touch the flaps

leave the flaps where they’re at until

you accelerate to certain speeds that

are dictated by the aircraft that are

safe to fly without flaps flaps are

extremely necessary to fly at low air

speeds in heavy aircraft like this and

it changes the entire shape of the wing

so that you can fly at slower air speeds

and still remain airborne so you have to

get faster before you start to retract

those flaps and there’s certain settings

that you retract the flaps at and you go

slowly you do it in a synchronized

manner where you go one flap setting up

get faster one flap setting up and get

faster so it’s very odd to me to see all

the flaps up because if you’re doing

some sort of a crash landing type

situation you know you’re going to come

in and have to glide into a landing

you’re going to put the flaps down cuz

you’re going to get slower you’re not

going to want to stall the aircraft

you’re going to put the flaps down but

in this case the gear should likely be

up because you just took off i’ll give a

full description of the map after this

i’ll show you the airport diagram so

stay for that and then I’ll give you my

official debrief here at the end as well

but we’ll step through some possible

causes for this situation and maybe not

just what I think but what is a buzz

right now on the internet so as you can

see there very skinny wing so extremely

skinny wing here if the flaps were down

you would probably not be able to see

the engines at all because those flaps

are so massive on the back end of the

787 so it really looks to me like no

flaps are down and then here at the end

the AOA which is the angle of attack

that looks to me and the elevator is

pitched down slightly so the elevator is

trying to dig in to give lift to get up

the pilots are probably thinking “Why

are we descending what’s happening

here?” And so they’re pulling back on

the yolk and the aircraft’s wing is

looking like it’s getting more of an

angle to it that’s the angle of attack

also I want you to look here and see

that the aircraft is in level flight so

if there was s some sort of thrust

disruption with one of the engines

there’s likely going to be some yaw

there’s likely going to be a little bit

of a a look to the aircraft like it’s

pitching or it’s uh yawing to one side

or the other and I don’t see that here

so what that says to me is likely both

engines are out or both engines are

working just fine uh so let’s continue

here and then at the endame pilots are

just going to start pulling back because

you really have no other options you

know you got to do what you got to do

there at that point tragic ending for

that i want to take you now to this map

of the crash site so here we are this is

going to be runway 23 where the 787 took

off on and I’ll give you a full

description of that with the airport

diagram in a second this is the crash

site here this red balloon unfortunately

near a heavily populated area but I want

you to look and I want you to see how

it’s a basic straight line off the end

of the runway so again if there was an

engine out situation like a bird strike

on one of the engines or something like

that likely there would be yaw and the

crash site would be to the side but this

is basically a direct line from runway

23 all the way down to the crash site

okay now let’s take a look at a Metabod

airport here we are va is the identifier

i want to show you guys the runway the

length and the likely taxi route of

flight 171 and so it’s an 11,500 ft

runway so I’ll draw a line here from the

international terminal i’ll just use

green and so from the international

terminal likely going to go from golf

then Papa and then Romeo 4 and then back

taxi on runway 23 since there’s no taxi

ways that parallel runway 23 and then at

the end they’ve got this spot lined up

perfectly for a 180 that would be a

normal typical way that an airliner

would set up so taking off midfield

that’s some of the rumors that I’ve seen

online doesn’t make sense to me just

because of this taxiway layout and then

here’s the takeoff roll fully loaded

Boeing 787 you’re looking at somewhere

between 9200 and 9,800 ft so the point

of takeoff is going to happen somewhere

about here so there’s going to be

thousands of feet of runway left over

likely and then as soon as you take off

you get that positive VVI you are going

to then put the gear up

a quarter mile off the end of the runway

your gear going to be fully up your

flaps are going to be down still though

and you’re going to start slowly

retracting those flaps okay so now let’s

get into the potential for what happened

so on June 12th 2025 this devastating

event it did claim 242 lives as we

discussed before it’s the first fatal

crash of a Boeing 787 and in this video

I’m going to dive even more into what

potentially happened how we can prevent

this from happening in the future and

then I will also share why air travel

remains one of the safest ways to get

around and I’ll tell you why so Air

India flight 171 was scheduled from

Amedabad’s Sardar Valhai Patel

International Airport to London Gatwick

the aircraft is a Boeing 787-8 a

Dreamliner and it’s registered as VT-

A&B it took off at 1:38 p.m local time

and then just seconds later it reached a

maximum altitude of only 625 ft before

crashing into the Megani Nagar

residential area it hit a doctor’s

hostel and caused a massive fireball the

flight crew did issue a mayday call but

communication was lost soon after

obviously due to that fireball and then

tragically local police reported no

survivors from the plane likely

casualties on the ground as well the

crash site showed the aircraft’s tail

protruding from a building with thick

black smoke billing into the sky this

was the first fatal crash of a Boeing

787 in the 787’s 14-year history it’s a

jet known for its stellar safety record

so the investigation will be led by

India’s aircraft accident investigation

bureau it’s ongoing we don’t have a

definitive answer yet but several

theories have emerged and I’ll give

those theories and then stay to the end

of the video cuz I will give my theories

as a professional pilot so one leading

speculation is possible dual engine

failure or significant thrust loss in

the plane’s General Electric GENX

engines eyewitnesses and video evidence

suggest a landing gear remain extended

which we saw in that video at the

beginning and that could point to a

hydraulic system failure tied to engine

performance as a 787’s hydraulic systems

rely on engine driven pumps some

unconfirmed reports also suggest the

pilots mentioned engine failures in

their Mayday call not confirmed yet

that’ll probably be coming out here very

soon another theory posted on X suggests

a takeoff performance miscalculation

where the plane may have started its

takeoff run from the middle of the

runway and we talked about why that’s

likely not the case but that would

reduce the available length to gain

speed and altitude if an aircraft did

that i don’t think that’s the case in

this situation and then additionally the

aircraft had recently undergone

refurbishing due to recent reports and

that raises questions about potential

engineering issues introducing during

maintenance work so not confirmed but

anytime a jet comes out of a depot yeah

you want to ask the question hey what

was the maintenance work that was done

past Boeing 787 incidents like the

lithium ion battery fires in 2013 or

quality control issues with fuselage

joints have also fueled speculations

about manufacturing or maintenance flaws

though these are not confirmed in this

case so I would ease your mind on this i

personally don’t believe this had

anything to do with it as far as the

maintenance issues or any of the past

quality control issues so what could

cause a jet like a modern 787 to lose

thrust in both engines dual engine

failure is extremely rare but it’s not

impossible so one possibility is fuel

contamination or starvation where the

engines didn’t receive enough fuel due

to a blockage or a supply issue another

could be a bird strike though at

Metabod’s weather was clear and no such

reports surfaced mechanical failures

could also be an issue like fan blade

damage or compressor stalls could also

play a role past GENX engine issues like

a 2016 FAA directive about fan ice

imbalances highlighted potential

vulnerabilities but obviously in this

case it was very warm it was roughly 30°

C so ice not going to be an issue a more

systemic issue could involve the

aircraft’s electronic system so the 787

does rely heavily on integrated avionics

if a fault disrupted engine control it

could lead to thrust loss but again this

hasn’t happened at all in the past and

then lastly maintenance errors during

the recent refurbishment could have

introduced issues such as improper

wiring or hydraulic system faults though

this is purely speculative until the

blackbox data is analyzed and if there

were any system faults like that the

pilots would have seen those and taken

care of those prior to takeoff it’s

something that we do every day as

airline pilots you step to a jet and

there’s some issue with it that you have

to get checked out you call maintenance

on board you do certain checks there’s

multiple points of contact from

maintenance personnel from the pilots to

make sure that jets don’t take off with

any system anomalies so I would be very

shocked if this jet took off with any

type of anomaly like that so when it

comes to bird strikes US Airways flight

1549 did have bird strikes in both

engines so it can happen dual engine

bird strikes can happen however even in

the case of Soleie when they were coming

in to land on the Hudson they put their

flaps down and even in the ditching

checklist when it comes to landing they

tell us as airline pilots to put the

flaps down to full again that gives you

the ability to land at the slowest air

speed and if you’re going to crash land

you want to be going as slow as possible

and then in 1995 an E3B Century an Awax

aircraft did crash at Elmenorf due to

ingestion of geese into both engines

obviously extremely rare but this

aircraft crash landed as well on the

departure end of the runway in a similar

looking type situation but if I was a

betting man I would say that even in

this case they kept some of their flaps

down to try to maintain that slower

flying air speed let’s talk quickly

about just the 787 in general the

Dreamliner is a marvel of modern

aviation the pilots I know that fly it

love this thing it launched in 2011 with

over 1,100 in service worldwide now it’s

a longhaul widebody jet with a range of

13,530

km it’s built with 50% composite

material again hyperefficient it’s got

carbon fiber reinforced polymers making

it lighter and about 20% more fuel

efficient than older Boeing models like

the Boeing 767 it’s powered by either

the General Electric GE NX or the

Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines these

engines are beasts for sure these

engines use advanced technology like

ceramic matrix composits for better heat

resistance and efficiency the Boeing 787

features a flybywire control system

replacing traditional mechanical systems

with electronic signals for smoother

handling it has a high bypass engine

design that reduces noise by up to 60%

compared to older jets its cabin is also

pressurized to lower altitudes of 6,000

ft instead of 8,000 ft that improves

passenger comfort by reducing fatigue

and the jet’s larger windows can dim

electronically it’s got advanced

avionics integrated with real-time

weather data and satellite communication

for safer navigation and despite its

strong safety record the 787 has faced

some challenges it included a lithium

ion battery fire issue in 2013 that

grounded the fleet and quality control

issues in 2021 that halted deliveries a

2024 whistleblower did raise concerns

about improper fuselage fastening though

Boeing dismissed these as not immediate

safety risks and investigations were

done modern jets like the 787 do rely on

redundant systems like dual computers

backup hydraulics and multiple power

sources to ensure safety even if one of

those fails i would feel comfortable

flying a Boeing 787 i’ve just heard

great things about them but this crash

is a stark reminder that even

cuttingedge aircraft aren’t immune to

failure and pilots are a part of that

chain so to prevent future tragedies the

avi industry must focus on rigorous

maintenance protocols even if that

wasn’t an issue in this case it’s just a

good reminder to go back to the basics

especially for recently refurbished

aircraft again there’s nothing saying

that that was the case of this accident

it’s just a reminder for everyone to go

back to the basics and then enhanced

pilot training for lowaltitude regimes

of flight and what to do at the low

altitude regime of flight because that’s

likely where a lot of incidents can

happen especially if you throw in some

type of emergency so looking at dual

engine failure scenarios that’s crucial

boeing and GE Aerospace are already

supporting the investigation and the

blackbox data will be key to identifying

those specific failures and the

investigation into real-time flight data

monitoring and predictive maintenance

technologies could also catch issues

before they even escalate and then

despite this tragedy air travel remains

incredibly safe statistically the odds

of dying in a plane crash are less than

1 in 11 million the 787 has flown nearly

5 million flights with over 30 million

hours without a fatal crash until now

modern aircraft are built with redundant

systems and global aviation safety

standards are stricter than ever

incidents like this are rare and each

one leads to improvements that make

flying even safer so while we mourn this

loss we can all feel confident stepping

into a plane so now you made it to the

end of the video i’ll give you my

opinion as a professional pilot so it

looks to me if there was no thrust

issues so let’s say the engines were

working fine i can’t tell exactly i

don’t see a lot of heat signature coming

out of those motors here so I can’t tell

if there’s actual thrust coming out of

them so if there’s not thrust coming out

of those engines and obviously something

happened that probably confused the

pilots but putting the flaps up anyway

in either situation whether there’s

thrust or not putting the flaps all the

way up at a low altitude like this is a

death sentence it’s going to make the

aircraft stall or it’s going to

essentially make it look like there’s a

loss of thrust because there will be a

sinking sensation inside that jet even

with full power if you put the flaps all

the way up at a low air speed the jet’s

going to sink it’s not going to be able

to fly and you’re going to put yourself

in a position where it feels like a loss

of thrust so let’s just run through a

quick scenario again not verified that

this happened but if unfortunately the

first officer didn’t have a lot of

experience and was having a rough day

and the pilot flying was the captain and

the captain called for gear up once the

first officer calls positive rate if the

first officer accidentally put the flaps

all the way up and left the gear down

now you’re in a situation where it’s

going to feel like a loss of thrust

likely to that captain because a captain

is looking outside scanning for birds

scanning for other traffic and as the

pilot flying if it is the captain in

this case that’s your job look outside

make sure you’re accelerating make sure

you’re meeting your certain air speeds

but if for some reason that first

officer just reached over and

accidentally put the flaps up it would

be a very insidious situation where you

might not immediately know what happened

until it’s too late so we don’t know if

this is pilot error yet but to me this

looks like a situation that could amount

to some sort of pilot error if there

isn’t loss of thrust on both engines

again it doesn’t look like a loss of

thrust on one engine looks like a loss

of thrust on both engines or both

engines working properly and then the

flaps are up when they shouldn’t be up

gear are down when they should be up so

the configuration is all off so there’ll

be a full investigation as this develops

i’ll keep you guys posted thank you so

much for watching i also want to give a

shout out to my dad Mike Bodie

Bowdenheimr who helped me review this

situation we had a phone call prior to

this so dad thank you for that

information i appreciate that what do

you guys think happened in this video

comment below and then like the video

subscribe to the channel it’ll help me

get more safety related information out

like this and then check out this video

right here guys i think you’ll enjoy

this video right here i’ll see you on

this video thank you so much for

watching this is Ryan also known as Max

Afterburner also known as the fighter

pilot next door signing