Report Claims Electrical Failure Triggered Mid-Air System Breakdown in AI 171 | Latest News | NewsX

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]wasn't aware was his action could push the 270 V high voltage inverter powering air conditioning and hydraulics to the nth of its thermal and dielectric limits. After this, the inverter exploded. This was also what the solo survivor, Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, heard as a loud boom in the back and that felt a melted the EFR as well as the wiring of the ELT. This is what also knocked out the APU, what hit the anti-collision strobe lights, but most tragically, it was also what ended up hitting the plane's flight computers. And just as FAA warned in 2016, the flight computers rebooted midair, sending the plane's logic to its default fail-safe mode, that is ground mode.

[00:00:40]Group Captain Debnath, it was the inverter which had exploded because the survivor claims that there was that boom sound.

[00:00:49]What that boom sound now is coming out in this report as well, Group Captain Debnath.

[00:00:55]>> Uh Uday, any electrical failure like inverter failure will be recorded immediately by flight data recorder, and it will show the effect on all the corresponding electrical circuits, definitely.

[00:01:12]Uh but the aircraft engine system is designed in a manner where uh the engines continue to run even if there is a total electrical failure.

[00:01:26]That means battery is down, the DC generator is down, AC generator is down, inverter failure has taken place.

[00:01:35]Uh in spite of all this, the aircraft engine is designed in a manner that uh uh the aircraft continue to fly, the engine continues to run.

[00:01:46]Uh this is achieved because you see the windmilling is taking place. That means uh because of forward velocity of the aircraft, the air is automatically being sucked in from front. It runs the compressor blades.

[00:02:01]Uh it runs the what we call N1 N2 to above our windmilling speed. Say 43% 47% RPM it will show. Most important it it the ignition continues.

[00:02:16]And the the combustion chamber continues to burn fuel.

[00:02:20]So uh a normal inverter failure or total electrical failure and never will lead to uh shutdown of the engine. Uh like in my career I have faced uh electrical problems where my DC generator had packed up. But engine was behaving normally.

[00:02:42]Uh but I came back and landed quickly as a precautionary measure.

[00:02:47]So what I want to convey is a normal elec- inverter failure or electrical failure uh whether it is DC generator DC generator should not lead to shutdown of the engine.

[00:03:01]Yes, Uday.

[00:03:03]>> All right. Well, when the flight computers also were learning when to ground mode, all the conditions