In June of this year, we saw an Air India Boeing 787-8 crash, killing all but one person onboard. This was the most fatal aviation accident in around a decade, and to this day, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding what happened.
Well, a couple of days ago we saw an incident involving another Air India Dreamliner, which has an eery similarity to the previous incident, as reported by The Aviation Herald. Pilots are even calling on the aircraft type to be grounded, pending inspections. Is what happened a coincidence, or could the two incidents be linked?
Air India Boeing 787 RAT inexplicably deploys on approach
This incident happened on Saturday, October 4, 2025, and involves Air India flight AI117, operating from Amritsar (ATQ) to Birmingham (BHX). The flight was operated by a 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 with the registration code VT-ANO, the same type of aircraft involved in June’s fatal accident.
The 10hr23min flight was routine, except for the landing. While the plane was on final approach to Birmingham’s runway 33, the ram air turbine (RAT) deployed. The RAT is a small propellor that deploys underneath the fuselage, to provide emergency electrical power when aircraft power is lost.
As many may remember, we saw the RAT deploy on the Air India Dreamliner during June’s fatal crash, given that the plane had lost all power. Video footage showing the RAT being deployed was one of our first clues into what might have happened.
In this case, though, the plane’s power was working just fine, and the aircraft still landed without incident. Ordinarily you’d assume the deployment of the RAT would be a sign of an engine failure, but neither of the aircraft’s engines were having any trouble. The return flight of this plane ended up being canceled, but the plane reentered service the following day, operating a flight from Birmingham to Delhi (DEL).
Below you can see video footage of the incident.
Pilots union raises concerns about Boeing 787 safety
It’s hard to know what exactly to make of this incident. Part of the issue is that we still don’t actually know what happened with the fatal June crash of an Air India Boeing 787. Investigators suggested that one of the pilots cut the power to the aircraft, but other parties (including many pilots) suggest that wasn’t the case, and there must have been some other failure.
A RAT just randomly deploying on short final is strange, especially with everything else seemingly functioning properly. Perhaps this wouldn’t be massively alarming if it weren’t for the unresolved June incident on the same plane type.
In light of that, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has requested that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) investigate the electrical systems of all Boeing 787s in the country, calling on the planes to be grounded in anticipation of that being completed.
The belief is that the plane’s computer system may have recorded a fault in the Bus Power Control Unit (BPCU), which may have caused the RAT to deploy. Per the letter:
“It is pertinent to note that incident is another pointer towards the Air India crash of B-787 aircraft. Thus, in the interest of air safety FIP insists that DGCA must thoroughly check and investigate the electrical system of B-787 aircraft in the country.”
So yeah, given that the RAT deployed in both of these situations, it’s certainly worth looking into. However, I’m not sure there’s a strong reason to believe the two are necessarily linked.
In the case of the fatal crash, the RAT deployed correctly, as it should, because both engines were shut down. In this case, the RAT was shut down despite the two engines operating correctly, and it’s not like the RAT being deployed somehow causes the engines to shut down, or for fuel to be cut off.
In other words, it would appear that the RAT malfunctioned this time around, while it worked exactly as it was supposed to last time. That’s not to say the two aren’t related, especially given that both incidents involve Air India 787-8s, but…
Bottom line
An Air India Boeing 787’s ram air turbine (RAT) deployed shortly before landing in Birmingham. This is only supposed to deploy if a plane loses power, but in this case, the plane’s power was working just fine. One might not necessarily view this as a huge deal, except for the fact that the same type of plane crashed in June, with the RAT also deploying (though due to a lack of power).
The union representing pilots is calling on the systems of these planes to be inspected, given the common theme of RAT deployment.
What do you make of this Air India RAT situation?
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