It is painful watching and reading all of the ridiculous or illogical "theories" regarding Air India.
Some of the TV talking heads should do some homework before presenting ideas that don't make logical sense. Example: the theory that the pilots did not set the flaps for takeoff because the junior investigators examined the videos and the obvious flap deployment is not evident. The 787 has multiple flap settings 1,5, 10,15,18, etc. Based on the design of the design flap, flaps 1 and 5, they extend aft and not significantly trailing-edge down. In addition, the leading edge slats deploy as well. Thus, looking at the videos, to the untrained eye the flaps look to be in the up position.
However close examination of the on videos shows the slats are deployed, thus some level of flap deployment as well - it may not have been the correct flap setting but they were deployed.
Thus, with the flaps extending somewhat straight aft at the flaps 1 and flaps 5 positions they would lijectgey are in the retracted position. Tge flaps start to move trailing edge down at the flaps 10 and definitely the flaps 15 and 18 position. See diagram.
If the pilots set the flaps at 1 or 5 they would not be noticeable in an oblique video angle.
In addition, the 787 uses an electronic checklist that provides a takeoff checklist warning and a takeoff configuration warning if the slats and flaps are not set for takeoff, thus it is reasonable the crew would not initiate a takeoff if they received these warnings.
In addition, some have suggested that during initial climb one of the pilots may have mistakenly retracted the flaps rather than the gear. While early info about the pilots indicates the captain had about 8000 hours of total time and the F/O had 1100 hours IT, regardless of experience, these are professional pilots who should be able to distinguish the flap handle from the gear handle.
A primary question is why the airplane used almost 11500 feet of runway to become airborne and when it become airborne was it at the required speed to remain airborne and accelerating. It is evident tgese criteria were not met, this was it due to an incorrect flap setting for weight in combination with incorrect reduced thrust takeoff setting which would put the airplane behind the
"power curve" and result in the lift being insufficient to support the aircraft weight at a speed of about 174 knots (based on unofficial internet data).
There are numerous points to be discussed but until we have valid aircraft and crew performance data from the FDR, CVR and other sources, the current story lines make for good TV ratings and movies only.
