Mumbai: The crash of the Air India’s Ahmedabad-London Gatwick flight immediately after take-off killing more than 200 people can be called one of the most tragic air transport accidents in the history of Indian aviation. While the authorities have not announced the cause of the crash, experts say that multiple bird hits seem to be the most possible reason for the fatal crash.
On Thursday, Air India’s Flight AI-171 carrying 242 people, including 230 passengers and 12 airline crew, to London Gatwick Airport crashed at 1.38pm, a minute after it took off from Ahmedavad’s SVPIA. The aircraft could be seen to have lost power while ascending vertically, before it crashed into multiple hostel buildings of BJ Medical College, located in a very close vicinity of the airport.
The minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol confirmed that the pilot made a ‘Mayday Call’ to the air traffic control (ATC) and tried to seek help after detecting some problem. While the civil aviation authorities were unable to ascertain the cause of the crash until late evening, the aircraft’s black box was recovered from the site which will be accessed to know all the recorded flight information, including the technical information about the functioning of instruments and the conversation between both the pilots in the cockpit and the ATC.
The aircraft involved in the accident was the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which is considered one of the most trusted aircrafts for intercontinental flying. The widebody aircraft, which is one of the most technically advanced aircraft, also has a very specific aerodynamic design which is said to provide a comfortable journey.
The initial automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data from the flight showed that the aircraft reached a maximum barometric altitude of 625 feet and then it started to descend with a vertical speed of -475 feet per minute, according to air traffic tracker Flightradar24. While the descent of the flight immediately after take-off indicates power failure, aviation experts are analysing the possible reasons for loss of power.
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Captain Mohan Rangnathan, former pilot and instructor pilot of Boeing 737, said that multiple bird hits in both the engines of the plane could be the reason behind the crash. While he said that Ahmedabad is notorious for bird hits, he also claimed that the crash would have happened without any casualty if the multi-storeyed buildings were not situated close to the airport.
“During take-off, the pilots would be using maximum thrust and due to a temporary loss of power at a shallow climb, they would have also lost partial thrust, causing the descent. The loss of power seems to be caused due to multiple birds ingested by both the engines, which would have disturbed its top process as the pilot would have managed with one engine. However, if the multi-storeyed buildings would not be there, everyone would have been saved,” he said,
Ashish Kumar, a former commercial pilot and the CEO of Flying Birds Aviation ruled out the possibility of any human error or technical failure saying that the aircraft had more than 60% of its flying life left. He believes that even a single bird hit can be the reason behind the crash saying that bird hit issues have been persistent in Ahmedabad.
“Even for human error, we need enough time, which was not available here. While landing an aircraft can glide down but this was taking-off with full thrust. It is very evident that it lost engine power. The reason can mostly be a bird hit, which has been an issue in Ahmedabad since more than a decade. Even a single bird can cause this since one engine would not be able to bear the weight of the loaded flight.”
However, Vipul Saxena, a former defence pilot and an aviation expert, raised concerns regarding the aircraft’s wheels being down even at the height of 600ft.
“There are a couple of indicators which would have made the situation complicated but the most concerning is that the aircraft’s wheels were down at such an height which is an abnormal situation since it requires extra power. The aircraft’s angle indicates strong cross wind which at high temperature could have caused wind tear.”
Jitendra Bhargava, former executive director of Air India said, “We should not speculate and attribute the crash to any cause till the time a formal enquiry, as laid down in the standard operating procedure, is concluded. The aircraft manufacturing company Boeing, aircraft operator Air India and the civil aviation authority will decode whatever little information is available in the black box in a short time. However, it is definitely a sad sad day for Air India.”
