Ahmedabad: Former commercial pilot and popular YouTuber Gaurav Taneja, known online as 'Flying Beast', took to X (formerly Twitter) on June 13 to share a critical remark in the wake of the tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad.
In his post, he questioned the reinstatement of Captain Manish Uppal, a senior official who was previously suspended during a DGCA investigation into safety lapses at AirAsia in 2020.
“In May 2020, I raised serious flight safety concerns against #AirAsia. DGCA investigated, safety lapses found and suspended 2 top officials. Who was the top boss - Capt Manish Uppal (also suspended). What did the airline do? Fixed the safety issues (no) Fired the whistleblower (yes). Capt Manish resumed. Today, after the merger of Air Asia, Vistara and Air India. Guess who is the top boss again at Air India,” he tweeted.
Have a look at his post here:
Dual Engine Failure? Taneja Flags Possibility of 'Catastrophic Power Loss'
Taneja, who has over a decade of flying experience, also offered his technical insight into what might have caused the devastating crash of flight AI-171 on June 12. The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plummeted minutes after take-off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.
Have a look at the visuals of the plane crash:
“Looks like a Dual Engine Failure after Take Off. Nothing short of a complete power loss can force a modern aircraft into that kind of sink rate, right after take off. Praying for everyone on board,” he posted.
Responding to a follower under the same post, Taneja called such failures “extremely, extremely, extremely rare,” adding that a pilot at just 600 feet with a building in front would be virtually powerless to recover.
In an emotional comment, Taneja reflected on simulator sessions where instructors demonstrate dual-engine failures, scenarios so severe that the exercise ends in an aborted simulation.
“Can’t even imagine if this happens in real life,” he further wrote on X.
