Yeah, my very first observation was no flaps. I failed to underscore this (in subsequent posts), but in my initial post I wasn't sure how far they were from the end of the runway. In retrospect, I should have made a bigger issue of this. Secondly, if you look carefully at the "Crash - Full Sequence" video I posted above, it doesn't appear to me the flaps were ever configured for takeoff...throughout the entire takeoff roll. I attributed this to my unfamiliarity with the 787-8 wing.
As for the landing gear being down, I believe there may be a slightly different explanation. Again, if you look carefully at the 'full sequence' video you can see they didn't gain much altitude (or airspeed) at all. For whatever reason, I think the gear remained down because even by VR the crew knew they had a serious problem on their hands (possibly 1 engine failed and the 2nd failing). As any aviator will agree, this is the single most dangerous point in flight (i.e. right after liftoff). You have all the odds working against you, specifically no altitude and inadequate airspeed to do anything about it. If they were in a serious power deficit problem at this point, retracting the gear would have only unnecessarily taxed an already impaired airplane, not to mention over-taxing an already chaotic workflow on the flight deck. Having the flaps not configured for takeoff at this point would only compound the problems.
Your explanation is also valid (mine is just an alternate theory). Too many times we've seen incidents where the flaps come up right after takeoff when the gear is supposed to come up, and depending on the location of the levers and the workflow muscle memory this can be easier done than meets the eye (sometimes so automatic it goes unnoticed by both crew). Although, my understanding of the 787 airfoil and power plant design is such that it should be able to overcome this condition...IF this is the only off-normal condition it has to overcome. As we all know, problems rarely happen as a single event. Usually, it's a combination of multiple problems which confront the PIC. I suspect this was likely the case here as well. However, if the flaps were not correctly set to start with, this only added insult to their growing injury after getting airborne.
A multiple birdstrike scenario seems to fit this incident well. Although, I don't see any birds in the 'full sequence' video (but it is from a distance).
I'm curious about your opinion on another thing. What is your take on the apparent object protruding down from between the landing gear on the bottom of the fuselage in the very first video; that appears to be the RAT to me, what's your take? If so, this would further explain why no gear retraction (total loss of power including hydraulics...which would further support dual engine failure.
Edit - Just in case anyone missed the 'full sequence' video I referred to above, here is another (native) link to the same video...
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lC1g9n4JW94
As for the landing gear being down, I believe there may be a slightly different explanation. Again, if you look carefully at the 'full sequence' video you can see they didn't gain much altitude (or airspeed) at all. For whatever reason, I think the gear remained down because even by VR the crew knew they had a serious problem on their hands (possibly 1 engine failed and the 2nd failing). As any aviator will agree, this is the single most dangerous point in flight (i.e. right after liftoff). You have all the odds working against you, specifically no altitude and inadequate airspeed to do anything about it. If they were in a serious power deficit problem at this point, retracting the gear would have only unnecessarily taxed an already impaired airplane, not to mention over-taxing an already chaotic workflow on the flight deck. Having the flaps not configured for takeoff at this point would only compound the problems.
Your explanation is also valid (mine is just an alternate theory). Too many times we've seen incidents where the flaps come up right after takeoff when the gear is supposed to come up, and depending on the location of the levers and the workflow muscle memory this can be easier done than meets the eye (sometimes so automatic it goes unnoticed by both crew). Although, my understanding of the 787 airfoil and power plant design is such that it should be able to overcome this condition...IF this is the only off-normal condition it has to overcome. As we all know, problems rarely happen as a single event. Usually, it's a combination of multiple problems which confront the PIC. I suspect this was likely the case here as well. However, if the flaps were not correctly set to start with, this only added insult to their growing injury after getting airborne.
A multiple birdstrike scenario seems to fit this incident well. Although, I don't see any birds in the 'full sequence' video (but it is from a distance).
I'm curious about your opinion on another thing. What is your take on the apparent object protruding down from between the landing gear on the bottom of the fuselage in the very first video; that appears to be the RAT to me, what's your take? If so, this would further explain why no gear retraction (total loss of power including hydraulics...which would further support dual engine failure.
Edit - Just in case anyone missed the 'full sequence' video I referred to above, here is another (native) link to the same video...
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lC1g9n4JW94