No, not only on TOTV. The "appeal to authority" and "ad hominem" logical fallacies occur many times outside TOTV also.

2 ATP rated professional pilots (I only noticed one in the thread) clearly have some expertise in flying a plane but unless they have engineered, programmed, maintained, or flown the 787 they don't necessarily have expertise in analyzing the cause of an incident. Beyond that, I don't believe even the one provided a professional opinion that contradicted anyone; he/she simply suggested we would learn more when the official investigation had concluded.

Conversely, the lack of a commercial license does not make one incapable of analyzing the available data. "Expert" is a word generally used to identify an individual with a certification or documented experience and while the awarding of a certificate is taken to be evidence of knowledge, the absence of a certificate does not prove a lack of knowledge. A picture of a cockpit was presented with the challenge to find the cutoff switch - that was actually very simple and doesn't require anything like an ATP rating. Underestimating another's knowledge (or overestimating one's own) is often a mistake.

Further recent update:

The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Friday that media reports on the reasons behind the Air India Boeing Dreamliner crash which killed 270 were speculative and premature.

And:

The AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau | Ministry of Civil Aviation) is investigating the crash, the deadliest aviation incident in a decade, along with Boeing and experts from the US and United Kingdom. A preliminary report from the investigators released on Saturday found the aircraft had been deemed airworthy, had up-to-date maintenance and carried no hazardous cargo.

But the report noted that a 2018 US Federal Aviation Administration advisory warned of a potential flaw in the fuel-control switch system of some Boeing planes, including the Dreamliner. The report said Air India did not inspect the system and it was not mandatory for it to do so.

Aljazeera July17/25

I will, personally, withhold my conclusions about what happened on the flight. (I really, really hope it was not pilot caused.)

I would be a lot more worried about the safety on planes in India or traveling from India if this were some kind of mechanical problem rather than a human resource failure.

Just a matter of time that the assumed truth comes out. Not sure of the legal system in India. Imagine the lawsuits if this happened in USA with an American carrier.


From WA Post

Medical records for an Air India pilot killed in last month’s crash were reportedly turned over to investigators amid reports he’d been suffering from depression and other mental health issues.

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, was the lead pilot when the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner went down in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 people on board and leaving just one survivor.

Sabharwal, who had more than 15,000 flying hours under his belt at the time of the tragedy, had taken medical leave in recent years due to apparent mental health woes, the Telegraph reported.

Another possibility is the pilots were distracted by the engines spinning down so they didn't call for gear up. The odds of two engines failing are astronomical but not zero.

Some have suggested the possibility of an intentional act, depressed doesn't necessarily equate with being homicidal, but certainly being distracted

Distracted? How could you pull on a switch to push it down for cut-off. Then a second later, pull on the other switch and push it down, and not realize what you are doing? Just curious.

Maybe someday it will be possible "Black Box" will have video of what Pilots were doing during prior to a disasters like this.

Totally agree. Absolutely zero reason why this can’t be policy. Some airlines have video of the cabin but don’t record. Good safety measure IMO. I would bet the Pilots union is/has protested a cockpit video system. Privacy. But it’s a workplace and that’s common in USA. So be it. But those that will not/cannot face facts re the India crash and that a pilot deliberately turned off both engines… can’t handle the truth.

So you've changed your mind? It wasn't the "flaps" and the improper configuration? Now it was Pilot turned off the engines?

New factual data reveals what all information from India investigators show. How long did it take you to go thru past posts? Bored? Complicated matters as this crash unfold slowly. Do you dispute the investigators initial review of the fuel switches and other data???