Aviation Expert on India Plane Crash: Takeoff Error or Technical Failure?

Scott Hamilton, Aviation consultant and Managing Director of Leeham Company discussed the investigation of the India plane crash.

Transcript

00:00We'll talk now to Scott Hamilton, the aviation consultant and managing director of the Liam Company.

00:05Scott, obviously an investigation underway. We don't know if this is human error or a catastrophic technical failure.

00:12What do you think happened?

00:15I've seen two videos that are on the Internet now, and they're of various quality and of various distance to the airplane.

00:23But in both videos, it appeared to me that the flaps were not extended for takeoff.

00:30The flight data recorders and the cockpit voice recorder should tell us whether they were or they weren't,

00:36and perhaps why they weren't extended, if that turns out to be the case.

00:42And for those of us who don't know the technical side of flying, what does that mean?

00:48I mean, what does that mean in simple terms?

00:52Yeah, the flaps on the trailing edge of the wings and the slats on the leading edge of the wings

00:57are extended for takeoff and for landing to give the airplane more lift at lower speeds.

01:04And the second video that I saw was of the takeoff role of the airplane and the liftoff of the airplane,

01:12and then the airplane started to descend, which would seem to indicate that it lost either power or it began to stall.

01:22And again, these flight data recorders will help fill in those answers.

01:28And forgive my ignorance, but when a plane is either taking off or landing,

01:33is that done under the control of the pilot, or is that fly-by-wire on a computer doing that?

01:39Well, it could be either one, actually.

01:44The takeoffs are certainly controlled by the pilots.

01:47Landings do have a process called Category 3 automated landings,

01:52which is used typically for very inclement weather, low visibility,

01:57and the airplane can actually be landed by a computer.

02:01We know that a mayday call was issued.

02:06What does that indicate about the nature or perhaps the timing of the incident?

02:13Well, it will only tell you the timing at this point.

02:16I haven't seen any report that any information other than just the word mayday was transmitted.

02:23Obviously, the pilot knew he was in trouble.

02:26We don't know whether there was a power loss.

02:28We don't know whether there might have been bird strikes, which could have contributed to this.

02:32But in neither video did I see what's called compressor stalls or backfires, if you will,

02:38of the engine that might suggest that.

02:41But unless he said more than just the word mayday, at this point,

02:45all that points to is an emergency and the time that it occurred.

02:50Scott, good to talk to you, and thank you very much indeed for coming on the program.

02:53Scott Hamilton, the aviation consultant.