New video of doomed Air India flight ‘shows Boeing 787 did lose power’ just before crash killed 241 passengers and ploughed into residential area
A new bombshell video provides evidence that the Air India Boeing 787 lost power immediately after take off, leading to the catastrophic crash that killed 241 passengers, an aviation expert has claimed.
Commercial airline pilot Steve Schreiber, who analyses plane crashes and close calls, said a new HD-quality video is a ‘gamechanger’ in diagnosing the cause.
He says it reveals the doomed Dreamliner suffered a ‘dual engine failure’ before the worst aviation disaster in more than a decade.
The jet began losing height moments after take-off and exploded into a fireball after smashing into a hostel on the ground in Gujarat.
All but one of the 242 passengers were killed in the horror crash along with another 38 who were killed on the ground when the plane smashed into residential buildings.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) now has both the plane’s black boxes as they piece together why the plane crashed last Thursday just seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad for London Gatwick.
Initially Mr Schreiber, best known as Captain Steve online, suspected there had been an exceptionally simple error in the cockpit when the co-pilot was asked to retract the landing gear, with devastating consequences.
However, a higher quality version of the original video of the crash has emerged, with higher quality visuals and sound, which Mr Schreiber believes could prove that a dual engine failure led to the plane’s terrifying final moments.
The 63-year-old, who has 26 years of flying experience – including 11 as a captain – and has flown in 60 different aircraft, said a tiny detail which can be seen on the new video is a ‘total gamechanger’.
Mr Schreiber explained on his Youtube channel Captain Steeeve that beneath the right wing of the aeroplane, he could see a ‘protrusion on the belly of the aircraft’. Underneath that there is a ‘little grey dot’, he added.
He said this is evidence of the Ram Access Turbine (RAT) deploying on the plane.
Captain Steve said the protrusion and the grey dot underneath the plane were evidence of the Ram Access Turbine (RAT) deploying
A protrusion on the belly of the aircraft, seen in a newly emerged video, has provided evidence about the plane’s final moments
‘Many aeroplanes have it,’ he said. ‘It is just behind the wing on the right side of the aeroplane, there is a little door that holds it in.
‘It looks like a little Evinrude motor, it’s a little two bladed prop.
‘The purpose is to provide electrical and hydraulic pressure for the aircraft on an extreme emergency.’
Mr Schreiber said that on a 787 there are three things that will deploy the RAT automatically.
He said: ‘A massive electrical failure, a massive hydraulic failure, or a dual engine failure.
‘Any one of those three things will cause that RAT to deploy.’
The aviation expert said that the protrusion and the grey dot were visual evidence of the RAT deploying on the aircraft.
He added: ‘That little grey dot is the RAT. The protrusion is the door that opened to allow the rat to come down.’
Mr Schreiber then detailed the second piece of evidence – the sound of the video.
Steve explained that the sound of the plane was also evidence of the RAT being deployed
The plane crashed into a fireball after a suspected double-engine failure shortly after takeoff
Rescue team members work as smoke rises at the site in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025
People look at the debris of an Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad of India’s Gujarat state
He said: ‘A RAT makes a distinctive sound, it sounds like a propeller aeroplane going by, or a real high-pitched squeal. It is basically spinning at the speed of sound to produce the energy, electrical and hydraulic that it needs to.
‘If you weren’t looking at it, it sounded like a single-engine prop aeroplane just flew by.
‘The RAT was originally designed as the absolute last resort, assuming there is going to be a dual engine failure at altitude.
‘It is not designed for an aeroplane at 400- 500ft. But it is evidence for us.’
His theory is that the crash was caused by a dual-engine failure.
He added: ‘It is evidence for us it was dual engine failure, most likely. It could have been electrical issue, it could have been hydraulic issue, it could have been either one of that.
‘But I think the fact the aeroplane is mushing out the sky gives the idea it was a dual engine failure.’
Alongside visual and audio evidence provided by the new video, Mr Schreiber believes the eyewitness report taken from sole survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, provides the third clue to the plane’s demise.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, lying in hospital with a bloodied face and injuries after surviving the tragic crash
Astonishing footage showed Vishwash walking away from the scene with some visible injuries to his face
The British national, 40, said that he was in India with his brother for the best part of a year and was returning to London, where his family live, on the Gatwick-bound aircraft on Thursday.
He was seated in 11A on the doomed flight from Ahmedabad, which is said to be one of the worst in India’s aviation history, having claimed the lives of 279 people so far.
Among the victims believed to be dead, which includes 53 British nationals, is the 40-year-old’s brother Ajay Kumar, 35, who was sat on the other side of the aisle in seat 11J perished in the fireball explosion.
Describing what happened after take off in an interview from his hospital bed he said: ‘When the flight took off, within five to 10 seconds it felt like it was stuck in the air.
‘Suddenly, the lights started flickering – green and white.
‘The aircraft wasn’t gaining altitude and was just gliding before it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.’
It came after a passenger on the plane when it flew the day before the crash claimed that electronics on the jet such as the screens in the seats were not working.
Mr Schreiber believes his short interview may hold another piece of evidence to explain the plane’s demise.
Shocking photos showed the aftermath of the catastrophic crash
A view of the site where the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in India’s western state of Gujarat on June 12, 2025
Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner lies at the site where the Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025
He explained: ‘He said just prior to the crash, he heard a loud bang and the lights flickered on the inside of the aeroplane.
‘We have got a guy saying he heard a loud bang and the lights flickered, what would cause that? The deployment of the RAT.
‘It’s going to take over electrical and hydraulic and as it does that the lights in the aeroplane would flicker.
‘I have heard reports the captain got out a mayday call and he said they were losing thrust.
‘That could be the fourth piece of evidence for dual engine failure.’
The evidence that the crash could have been caused by dual-engine failure was ruled out by Aviation Herald – who reported on the crash from India.
But Mr Schreiber said he thinks the publication ‘probably got that wrong’ based on the evidence he has seen.
Although the evidence gives ‘a lot more clarity’ on the crash, he believes it also sends the investigation ‘back to square one’ because he has no idea why both engines on a 787 would flame out right after take off.
The sole survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, has since been visited by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in hospital, seen here
The new video emerged as it was revealed to be the original footage of a clip that was shared around the world, which had in fact been a recording of a video on a person’s phone.
Mr Schreiber explained: ‘The video that we all saw was a video of a video and the quality was extremely poor. The original is much sharper. What happened was some cameraman was standing in front of the screen watching the video play. You can see him at the end of it. The audio is not very good and the visual is not very good.’
The clarity of the original video along with the original audio helped him come to his new conclusion on the cause of the crash.
It comes as the pilot of the India Air plane has been hailed a hero by locals after it emerged that he diverted the jet a the last second to avoid an apartment block, saving the lives of 18 families.
The families are convinced they owe their lives to Captain Semeet Sabharwal – who diverted the plane which was heading towards them when it began to rapidly descent after take off, The Sun reported.
Captain Sabharwal managed to divert the plane towards a patch of grassland instead.
Locals in Ahmedabad fled their homes when the plane erupted into a fireball next to a medical college.
The top two floors of a disused four-storey military building were destroyed by the crash.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, left, and First Officer Clive Kunder, right, avoided a three storey apartment before the crash which took the lives of themselves and their passengers
The tail of the Dreamliner plane that crashed, hitting buildings in a residential area
Parts of the jet crashed into the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital
Remnants of the fuselage and the landing gear were seen dangling through a gaping hole in the side of the canteen, with half-finished plates of food clearly visible on benches inside
A fire then tore through the college’s hostel and killed dozens of students and staff who were eating in the canteen.
Captain Sabharwal, 55, was an experienced pilot with more than 8,200 hours of flying time and the son of an officer with India’s civil aviation authority.
He was the main carer for his father, now in his 80s and called him before taking off.
The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) announced on Friday night that four of its investigators had arrived in India and have expertise in aircraft operations, engineering and recorded data.
The ‘release of information on the investigation rests solely with the Indian authorities’, it added.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
MailOnline previously revealed the British victims were Akeel Nanawaba, Hannaa Vorajee and their daughter Sarah, 4, Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, Javed Ali Syed, his wife and two children, Raxa Modha, her grandson Rudra and her daughter-in-law Yasha Kamdar, and Ajay Kumar Ramesh, the brother of the tragedy’s only survivor.
