Cracking Aircraft Accidents
Dual engine failure detected in audio spectrogram
On June 12, 2025, one of the worst aviation accidents took place in Ahmedabad, India, where seconds after being airborne, the AI 171, a Boeing B787-B8 Dreamliner aircraft crashed into a building. All 241 passengers died in the crash except for one passenger who miraculously walked away from the burning debris.
As fate would have it, a teenager casually recorded a video of the AI 171 gliding down at a rather low altitude, little knowing that it was headed for a deadly crash. From this casual video, or more precisely the AI 171's audio record, spectrograms were derived. From side- by- side comparison of spectrograms showing engine orders of a reference Dreamliner aircraft and the AI 171, I've been able to detect the latter's engines failing during the glide. The video below gives a full narration of the process and findings.
Fuel control switches snap- thru under adverse vibration
On July 12, 2025, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India, released a preliminary report on crash of the AI 171. Investigation was done by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). According to the report, the left and right fuel control switches were both recorded as having transitioned from Run to Cutoff, within a time interval of just 1 sec.
Through qualitative reasoning founded on mechanics, snap- thru instability and participation of a 'Bounce' mode of the switch head, I've almost certainly established that the transition was caused under adverse vibration arising from engines thrust larger than derated. The video below is a narration of the reasoning, conclusions and recommendations.
