Air India plane crash draws attention to flaps and landing gear

Officials inspect the site of a plane crash near Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, India, on June 12. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Video of the Air India jetliner that crashed into a neighbourhood points to potential anomalies that aviation safety authorities will examine to understand what caused the accident that killed at least 241 people.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner appeared to not achieve sufficient thrust as it lumbered down nearly the full length of an 11,000-foot runway, a distance that should have been more than enough to take off, said Mr Bob Mann, head of aviation consultant RW Mann.
That could stem from a misconfiguration of the plane prior to takeoff or erroneous weight data entered into the plane's computer system that determines how much power is needed to get off the ground, he said.
Mr Mann cautioned that his views were unofficial and not corroborated by data or cockpit voice recorders, which have yet to be recovered from the site.
'If the weight is high compared to the actual number, you end up with a very aggressive takeoff,' he said. 'If the weight is low compared to the actual, you end up with not enough commanded power.'
The 787's landing gear was never retracted, which normally occurs just after takeoff, said Mr Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigation chief for the US Federal Aviation Administration.
He also said he'd want to know more about whether the plane's flaps – movable panels along the wing that generate additional lift during takeoff – were in the correct position, noting that it was possible those were raised mistakenly instead of the landing gear.
'You don't see any smoke or fire or engines burping or anything like that. You don't see any structural failure occurring,' Mr Guzzetti said. 'It just appears the airplane was unable to climb once it got off the runway.'
That could be due to several reasons, he said, including the flaps being raised instead of the landing gear or improper programming of the flight control computer.
'We just don't know at this time,' he said.
Mr Mann said the flaps appeared to be incorrectly positioned, adding that trying to belatedly adjust the flaps could lead to an aerodynamic stall.
The Air India Dreamliner was carrying 242 passengers and crew on a flight from Ahmedabad to London. There was one survivor from the plane.
Investigators from the US National Transportation Safety Board and FAA will travel to India to assist with that government's investigation of the crash.
Additional clues should emerge when authorities recover the plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, the so-called black boxes containing key information about what was happening to airplane systems and pilots in the flight's final moments. Bloomberg
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