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News18
16-06-2025
- News18
New Proof Points To RAT Activation On Doomed Air India Flight. Here's What It Means
Last Updated: The Ram Air Turbine is a device used on aircraft to generate emergency power when the primary engines fail Did a dual engine failure lead to the tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 in which over 250 people were killed? New evidence in the aftermath of the AI171 crash has shed light on the sequence of events leading up to the disaster, with probe into the emergency systems aboard the aircraft suggesting that a dual engine failure may have played a significant role in the incident. According to aviation experts, the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), which was activated shortly after takeoff, could be a critical clue. WHAT IS RAT? The Ram Air Turbine is a device used on aircraft to generate emergency power when the primary engines fail. It deploys into the airstream and uses the aircraft's forward motion to generate power for essential systems, such as flight controls and hydraulics. Its activation on AI171 suggests that the plane may have faced a catastrophic loss of engine power shortly after takeoff. Depending on the aircraft and configuration, the RAT can power flight control systems, instruments, communications, hydraulic systems, and basic navigation systems. HOW/WHEN IS IT DEPLOYED? Automatic Deployment: Triggered automatically when there is a complete loss of electrical power or both engines fail. Manual Deployment: The pilot can manually deploy the RAT by activating a switch or lever in the cockpit (used if the automatic system fails). Turbine Spins in Airflow: As the aircraft moves forward, air pressure spins the RAT's small propeller. Power Generation Begins: The RAT drives an emergency generator (electrical) or hydraulic pump, restoring enough power to operate essential systems. According to a Times of India report, the Air India Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad used the entire 3.5-kilometre runway for take-off—longer than the usual 2.5 to 3 kilometres typically required for that type of aircraft. No irregularities were noted before departure. An airport source confirmed there were no requests for changes in runway, engine thrust, or flap settings. Weather and visibility were stable, and ambient temperatures remained within operational norms. These conditions indicate that the take-off seemed routine, making the sudden failure shortly after liftoff—and the rapid descent that followed—all the more baffling for investigators. Aviation expert Captain Sahil Bhalla said the quick activation of the RAT on AI171 is indicative of a dual engine failure. In an interview with The Financial Express, Bhalla explained that the RAT's deployment, which occurs within seconds after the engines fail, is a clear sign that the aircraft had lost power from both engines. 'The activation of the RAT is almost instantaneous. It tells us that the aircraft was relying on emergency backup systems due to a significant loss of power," Bhalla said. Experts suggest that the dual engine failure may have been caused by mechanical issues or a fuel-related problem, which would explain the aircraft's reliance on the RAT system. The aircraft's rapid descent after takeoff and the deployment of the RAT add weight to the theory that the flight was unable to maintain altitude due to engine power loss. An interesting detail that has emerged from the crash investigation is the 'small gray dot" noticed in early images from the crash site. This dot is believed to represent the RAT in its deployed state. This observation has fuelled further speculation that the RAT may have been deployed at a critical time during the flight—right after the engines failed. As reported by Business Today, experts have suggested that this small gray dot could be a physical manifestation of the RAT's location or deployment. It's a detail that could help aviation experts pinpoint when exactly the emergency power system kicked in, adding valuable context to the timeline of the crash. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN BOTH ENGINES FAIL? In modern commercial aircraft, dual engine failure is an extremely rare event, but when it occurs, it can be catastrophic. In normal circumstances, aircraft are designed to fly and navigate with one or more engines running. When both engines fail simultaneously, no engine power is available to propel the aircraft forward, which affects aerodynamic stability. The aircraft will still retain momentum and altitude briefly, but the pilots must rely on emergency power and control systems to maintain control of the aircraft. If both engines fail, the RAT will deploy automatically, offering enough power to keep essential flight systems active, though not necessarily enough for normal flight operations. The RAT provides critical time for the pilots to regain control or land the aircraft. Immediate power loss in both engines likely would have left AI171 unable to climb to altitude safely. The RAT was deployed to provide emergency hydraulic or electrical power for essential systems like flight controls and navigation instruments, without which the aircraft could not have continued to function properly. The RAT's role in maintaining basic control systems would have been vital in helping the pilots attempt to bring the aircraft to a safe landing. But without engines, the aircraft would have struggled to regain enough lift to reach a safe altitude. WHAT MAY HAVE CAUSED THE DUAL ENGINE FAILURE? The exact cause of the dual engine failure remains unclear, but experts have been considering several potential scenarios: Mechanical Malfunctions: A failure of both engines, due to mechanical failure, could explain why the RAT was activated. If, for example, there was a fuel problem or an engine defect, this could have led to a simultaneous shutdown of both engines. Fuel-related Issues: A sudden fuel contamination or fuel starvation scenario could cause both engines to fail unexpectedly. This theory is supported by the timing of the RAT deployment, as the aircraft would have been forced to rely on emergency systems until the situation was addressed. Electrical or Hydraulic Failures: The RAT may have also been deployed due to a failure of critical electrical or hydraulic systems, which are necessary for operating the aircraft's primary functions. top videos View all The aircraft was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had 8200 hours of experience, and was being copiloted by First Officer Clive Kundar, with 1100 hours of flying experience. Seconds after takeoff, the pilot issued a Mayday call before losing contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and crashing into a hostel for MBBS students. About the Author Apoorva Misra Apoorva Misra is News Editor at with over nine years of experience. She is a graduate from Delhi University's Lady Shri Ram College and holds a PG Diploma from Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. More Get Latest Updates on Movies, Breaking News On India, World, Live Cricket Scores, And Stock Market Updates. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! tags : Ahmedabad Plane Crash Location : Ahmedabad, India, India First Published: June 16, 2025, 10:28 IST News explainers New Proof Points To RAT Activation On Doomed Air India Flight. Here's What It Means | Explained
Mint
29-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
Motorola Edge 60 Fusion: A few thoughtful features make it stand out
Sahil Bhalla The Motorola Edge 60 Fusion impresses with its design, display, and solid battery life, but faces challenges in camera performance and software optimization. Is it worth the price for budget-conscious consumers? Icy cold Gift this article There's one smartphone brand that has flown under the radar over the past year, and yet, quietly releasing smartphones alongside low-key marketing has helped the brand reap a 135.9% year-on-year (2023 to 2024) growth in market share. Yes, according to International Data Corporation's (IDC) 'Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker' February 2025 release, Motorola, now under the tutelage of Lenovo, is a winner. Its mid-range smartphones are its strongest suit and have helped propel the company's market share to grow from 2.7% in 2023 to 6.0% at the end of 2024. There's one smartphone brand that has flown under the radar over the past year, and yet, quietly releasing smartphones alongside low-key marketing has helped the brand reap a 135.9% year-on-year (2023 to 2024) growth in market share. Yes, according to International Data Corporation's (IDC) 'Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker' February 2025 release, Motorola, now under the tutelage of Lenovo, is a winner. Its mid-range smartphones are its strongest suit and have helped propel the company's market share to grow from 2.7% in 2023 to 6.0% at the end of 2024. Over the past month, the company has released the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion and the Motorola Edge 60 Stylus, with the Motorola Edge 60 Pro set to launch in a few days. I've been using the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion for some time now, and it's an easy, breezy, no-frills smartphone that one can recommend to many budget-conscious consumers out there. The Edge 60 Fusion starts at ₹ 22,999 and features an IP69 ingress protection rating, as well as MIL-STD-810H standard testing for enhanced durability. This time around, there is a significantly improved OLED display (with Gorilla Glass 7 protection), a larger battery capacity, increased storage, a microSD slot (for those who still use it), a refreshed chipset, and faux vegan leather finishes in three different Pantone colours; Slipstream, Amazonite and Zephyr. Let's talk design and display Pastels continue to be popular in smartphone design Let's start with the design and its vegan leather finish. The design doesn't veer too much from its predecessor. The device features a soft-touch vegan leather back, a thin plastic side frame, a curved front panel, and a small, minimalist camera island that doesn't protrude significantly. Thanks to a larger battery, the smartphone is slightly thicker, but the difference isn't noticeable in day-to-day usage. The Edge 60 Fusion comes in at 180g light and 8.2mm thick. In fact, it's lighter and thinner than the recently launched Nothing Phone (3a). It now boasts a military-grade certification for durability, as well as IP68 and IP69 ratings for water and dust resistance. In this price segment, it's one of the most durable smartphones available. The bezels are slim, and there's just the Motorola logo at the centre of the back panel. The handset offers a good in-hand feel, with one-handed usage being very much achievable. The only quibble I'd have is that the in-display fingerprint scanner is placed too low for convenience. Also read: This summer, bond with your kids in a no-Wi-Fi getaway The 6.7-inch pOLED panel is identical to its predecessor but offers a higher 1.5K (1220x2712p) resolution and a significantly improved peak brightness of 4,500 nits, one of the highest in this price segment. The refresh rate has been reduced from 144Hz to 120Hz, but for daily usage, the latter is more than sufficient. Curved displays may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they do add to the premium feel of the device. The colours are vivid, the text is crisp, and the contrast ratio is excellent. Couple this display with stereo speakers (with Dolby Atmos), and you have a winner in the segment. Outdoor usage is comfortable, and you needn't squint, thanks to 1400 nits high-brightness mode. The display does exhibit a fair amount of reflections and the viewing angles aren't the best (just in case you want to watch the latest IPL match with your co-passenger). It's worth noting that the display is equipped with 'wet touch technology'. It works even when used with wet fingers. Under the hood The smartphone has transitioned from Qualcomm to MediaTek. The Edge 60 Fusion is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 processor, with up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of USFS 2.2 storage. While the smartphone excels in day-to-day tasks, it stumbles while gaming. Motorola just hasn't optimised the chipset for gaming. Many games are locked at 60 FPS, while similarly priced smartphones can achieve 90 or even 120 FPS. Thankfully, the smartphone never gets too hot to handle. Multitasking is handled with aplomb, and if you're a camera enthusiast, you're in luck. The smartphone features a microSD slot, allowing for storage expansion of up to 1TB. This is rare in the mid-range phone, and I'm glad Motorola has kept the flag flying high. Battery life is the Edge 60 Fusion's strongest suit, as the larger 5,500mAh battery shines. I easily got around 8 hours of screen-on-time with my medium-to-heavy usage pattern, and I didn't have to charge the smartphone until lunch on day two. With the 68W fast charger (included in the box), the smartphone can be juiced from 0-100 percent in approximately 44 minutes. Motorola includes a 68w fast charger in the box, allowing you to charge the Edge 60 Fusion from 0-100 percent in approximately 48 minutes. Less than perfect Yes, even after praising the smartphone extensively, there are things I didn't like about it, and I hope they will be improved in next year's successor. Those stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos are merely good on paper. It's acceptable to watch an IPL match with 60 percent volume. Anything above that, or anything with bass and heavy vocals, will get distorted. The cameras are truly a mixed bag. The camera setup is nearly identical to that of its predecessor. There is a 50MP (Sony LYT-700C) primary lens. A 13MP ultrawide lens flanks it. The device features a 32MP front-facing camera. This time around, Motorola has introduced a 3-in-1 ambient light sensor to help with exposure and improve white balance. The problem is not much the camera hardware and the processing. It's with the buggy camera app. It's laggy, unresponsive, and crashes at times. The experience is far from smooth, but something that can be easily fixed with a software update. With the Edge Fusion 60's primary camera, you get photos with punchy and vibrant colours, a good amount of sharpness and good details. It's the post-processing that can oversharpen the image a tad too much. Processing takes a little longer than you'd expect. There are Natural and Enhanced styles of processing. With Natural processing, white balance is mostly fine. Enhanced is essentially unusable, mainly because it takes too long to process and offers no meaningful improvements. The ultrawide is good. It has a narrower dynamic range, and the photos are sharp and vibrant, similar to those from the primary camera. I used the ultrawide a lot more than I thought I would, and I came away impressed. During low-light photography, I noticed that the noise was under control, but the details were missing. There's a lot of oversharpening here, and it feels like Motorola isn't optimising the software to take full advantage of the sensor at hand. Portrait mode shots are decent, with good edge detection (though not perfect) when shooting in daylight. Selfies are acceptable for sharing on social media, but videos appear off because of the colour reproduction (Motorola uses the ancient Rec.601 colour space). Software is something I haven't touched upon because it's nothing to write home about. Hello UI (based on Android 15) offers good customisation and theming options, along with a sprinkling of AI features, but it needs a smoother experience to succeed in this space truly. Bloatware is still present in some places, although it has considerably reduced from previous versions. While most AI features are standard and present across Android smartphones, there is one notable exception: Catch Me Up, a Motorola exclusive that has the potential to be useful. It's there to provide a summary of all the notifications you may have missed but doesn't discuss the notifications you've dismissed. Then there's Pay Attention, Remember This, Canvas AI and more. Motorola has promised three years of OS updates and four years of security patches. Verdict There's the Poco X7 Pro, with its superior performance, which is the Edge 60 Fusion's biggest competition. The only other alternative I can think of is the Nothing Phone (3a), which comes with a unique design and a dedicated telephoto camera. Also read: Nothing Phone 3, 3a review Still, at ₹ 22,999, the Edge 60 Fusion has all the makings of a solid choice for a good budget smartphone. There's the premium build (with IP68+IP69 ratings), excellent battery life, AI cops, and a base variant that comes with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. The pOLED display is bright and vibrant with sharp text, and the camera is good (barring the video quality) for this price segment. Performance is good, and only gamers should look elsewhere. Motorola's Edge 60 Fusion is a solid all-rounder, and as they say, it just gets the job done. It's a no-frills smartphone with a premium design, smooth experience, and reliable battery life. Topics You May Be Interested In
