Ex-Maine pilot analyzing Air India tragedy

By Ted Cohen/Patch com

A former P-3 Orion pilot out of Maine is among the leading analysts on YouTube dissecting what went wrong with the tragic Air India Boeing 787.

Steve Scheibner flew for eight years out of the Brunswick Naval Air station while he was in the service.

Scheibner and his wife lived in Georgetown, Maine during their naval time.

Scheibner went on to become a co-pilot for American Airlines and was later promoted to captain, his current position.

He has accumulated tens of thousands of hours piloting the Boeing 700 series, flying internationally.

Scheibner helped found the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Topsham.

On YouTube, Scheibner goes by the handle "Captain Steeeve," the spelling deriving from the way he pronounces his YouTube name.

Scheibner initially believed the Air India plane went down due co-pilot error but now suggests that the plane lost power in both engines while trying to gain altitude on takeoff.

Scheibner has another distinction - he was supposed to be the co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, which hijackers flew into the World Trade Center on 9/11.

He had volunteered for the flight because he had a day off and wanted to get in some extra airtime.

The airline booked Scheibner for the flight but at the last minute he lost his assignment to a more-senior copilot.

He was living in Georgetown at the time and had told his wife he was booked for the flight.

Scheibner later talked about how fate had saved his life.

Nowadays he's a very popular YouTuber talking about the airline industry and answering average people's questions about flying.