Major update in Air India crash investigation as authorities identify potential cause of plane going down

Officials probing the Air India crash which left at least 270 dead suspect the plane may have been using an emergency power generator.

A thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy which took place last Thursday (12 June) has been underway, with aviation experts digging into what went wrong.

Air India Flight AI171 was bound for London Gatwick when it set off from Ahmedabad in western India but lost signal and issued a mayday call within a minute of taking to the air.

It had only climbed to 625 feet before crashing into a hostel for doctors and medical students.

Only one person - British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was in seat 11A - survived the deadly crash.

Preliminary findings suggest that an emergency-power generator, which known as a ram air turbine (RAT), may have been in operation when the crash took place, investigators have now said.

Officials are now looking into whether the Boeing's engines were functioning correctly as the plane took off, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Air India plane might have suffered a dual engine failure, according to reports (SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images)

The job of a plane's engines is to create electricity which produces thrust to propel the plane forward, as well as assisting the function of the flight-control systems the aircraft is kitted out with.

If these fail, the RAT can deploy automatically to pick up the slack, while it can also kick in if there are issues with the plane's electric motor pumps or the instruments in the cockpit.

Pilots can also manually activate the RAT if needed and this typically occurs when someone flying the plane believes that both engines have failed, aerospace safety consultant Anthony Brickhouse said.

The engines may falter for a wide range of reasons, such as fuel problems or bird strikes, but Brickhouse said both of them malfunctioning is 'extremely rare' in commercial aviation.

"Our engines today are more efficient and reliable than ever," he added.

Investigators are now reportedly exploring whether the Air India flight suffered a loss or reduction of thrust, which may have triggered the tragedy.

The idea that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner might have suffered a dual engine failure was previously floated by commercial airline pilot and crash analyst Steve Schreiber earlier this week.

Hundreds of people were killed in the horror crash (Saurabh Sirohiya/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The YouTuber, known as ‘Captain Steeeve’ online, said he spotted a ‘tiny detail’ in footage of the plane's final movements which he considered to be a ‘total game-changer’.

Beneath the plane’s right wing, he reckons there is a ‘protrusion on the belly of the aircraft’ with a ‘little grey dot’ just beneath it - suggesting the RAT had been activated.

"Many airplanes have it," he explains. "It is just behind the wing on the right side of the airplane, there is a little door that holds it in.

“It looks like a little Evinrude motor, it's a little two-bladed prop. Its function is to provide electrical and hydraulic pressure for the aircraft in an extreme emergency."

Schreiber says that on this type of aircraft, the RAT is automatically deployed under one of three conditions: “A massive electrical failure, a massive hydraulic failure or a dual engine failure.”

According to the aviation boffin, the ‘protrusion’ and grey dot were visual evidence of the RAT being enabled.

India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation say that the probe into the Air India incident remains ongoing and more information into the findings will be given at a later date.