Aviation expert reveals what he thinks really went wrong in cockpit before Air India flight cra.sh that kil.led 241
An aviation specialist thinks he has the “simple” explanation for why the Air India aircraft that was en route to London Gatwick cra.shed, ki.llin.g 241 of the 242 passengers on board.
A passenger plane headed for the capital of the United Kingdom cra.shed to the ground on Thursday, June 12, just after taking off at 13:39 local time in Ahmedabad, western India.
According to Air India, the tragic Flight AI171 took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad.
In the cockpit were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 60, and his co-pilot, Clive Kundar. According to reports, the former had over 8,000 flying hours over his 22-year career as a pilot, making him incredibly experienced.
It is believed that nearly immediately after takeoff, Captain Sabharwal issued a mayday call from the Air India cockpit.
“Mayday […] no thrust, losing power, unable to lift,” authorities claim the emergency message said.
The Air India aircraft reached a height of about 625 feet before plummeting from the sky and colliding with the earth in a tremendous explosion.
A plume of smoke from the plane’s impact was visible rising into the sky in terrifying video footage.
242 passengers and staff members were on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was carrying 100 tons of fuel, or nearly a full load, according to India’s Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah.
These included seven Portuguese nationals, one Canadian, 53 British, and 169 Indian nationals.
The only survivor of the Air India tragedy is a British guy named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40.
Since then, a top health official has said that the tragedy also claimed the lives of eight locals on the ground, including four medical students.
Although the cause of the tragedy is being investigated, one aviation expert has described what he believes transpired.
Captain Steve, a YouTuber and pilot for a commercial airline, asserted that the plane might have crashed due to a straightforward mistake in the cockpit.
“Here’s what I think happened, again folks this is just my opinion…I think the pilot flying said to the co-pilot said ‘gear up’ at the appropriate time,” he began.
“I think the co-pilot grabbed the flap handle and raised the flaps, instead of the gear. If that happened – and this is a big if – this explains a lot of why this airplane stopped flying.”
The content maker claims that if the plane’s flaps had been increased, the flight would have quickly lost height and airspeed.
“It was ‘impossible’ at this point to determine whether the flaps were up or out,” Steve added.
Therefore, it could have been very difficult for pilots on board to deal with and’recover from’ because of how quickly the jet would have crashed, Steve stated.
According to him, the 787’s composite wings would typically bend when lift forces propelled it into the air during takeoff.
But since the Air India aircraft didn’t appear to be bending, there has been conjecture that the flaps may have been inadvertently retracted, which is what caused the plane to cease flying, according to Steve.
The plane may not have taken off correctly from the Indian runway due to a number of “clear issues,” according to retired British Airways pilot Alastair Rosenschein.
Its [landing] gear is obviously down, which is incorrect; it ought to have been up. After reviewing the film, he told Sky News, “And from the video… It’s not immensely clear… but it does look like the aircraft didn’t have its take-off flap setting.”
Like Captain Steve, Rosenschein said that the plane flap setting didn’t “look right” and that the destruction appeared to be caused by a “aerodynamic issue.”
Recently, Ramesh, who was seated in seat 11a on the aircraft, recalled how the jet went down and described how he was able to escape the wreckage.
“There was a loud noise thirty seconds after takeoff and then the plane crashed,” the accident survivor stated from his hospital bed in Asarwa, Ahmedabad. Everything happened so fast.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
Ramesh also told Indian state media DD News that he managed to unbuckle himself from his seat after the plane went down, using his leg to push through the debris and eventually crawl out.