13-06-2025
All the possible Air India crash causes - from engine failure to pilot error
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London's Gatwick Airport erupted into a ball of fire just outside Ahmedabad Airport in western India after crashing into a college in a residential area
Aviation experts are scrambling to offer theories after the tragic Air India crash yesterday saw a plane carrying 53 Brits smash into a residential neighbourhood in India.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was carrying 242 passengers, had just taken off from Ahmedabad in India on a London-bound flight when the jet came down in fair flying conditions. Shortly after 1pm, the plane reached around 625ft in the air when its transponder signal was lost and it came crashing down, smashing into a medical college and exploding into a ball of flames. An investigation is underway while experts analyse footage of the crash and offer up theories about what could have brought the plane down.
The video footage, while compelling, is not conclusive evidence, and investigators will only know what happened once they have found and analysed the plane's black boxes.
Did engine failure bring the plane down?
A "mayday" call sent to air traffic control shortly after takeoff has led some experts to suggest the Dreamliner could have suffered a mechanical failure. The fact that pilots sent this message indicates they could tell there was a problem with the aircraft.
Videos of the fateful take-off, while inconclusive as evidence, seem to show the plane struggling to lift off the ground - which could be due to a lack of thrust or power.
Some experts believe this could have been caused by an almost unheard of double engine failure. Speaking to the BBC, one senior pilot said this ultra-rare event could be caused by the contamination or clogging of jet fuel
Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation expert, said the double-engine theory would be "a very, very rare incident".
Could the fault lie with the pilots?
Captain Summeet Sabharwal, a veteran pilot with 8,200 hours of flying experience, was commanding the flight when it crashed just outside the Gujarati airport. According to early reports, it seems unlikely that a pilot fault was to blame.
Principal aviation consultant at BL Aviation Consulting, Bernard Lavelle, explained that once in the air, modern planes "pretty much fly themselves", but it's the take-off and landing that require the active participation of the pilots.
"The two most dangerous, relatively speaking, phases of any flight are take off and landing," he told the MailOnline.
"There are generally few issues when the aircraft is in the air - but take-off and landing are when something could go wrong and the only time the pilot is (fully in control of) the aircraft."
The fact that an SOS message was sent out appears to suggest that it was not the pilots' fault, he added.
Runway miscalculation
While the SOS message appears to indicate a mechanical failure rather than pilot error, the pilots could have miscalculated the length of runway needed for the Boeing Dreamliner to take off.
Marco Chan, senior lecturer in aviation at Buckinghamshire New University, explained how the Boeing Dreamliner needs 1.75miles of runway to take off properly. However, unverified data from Flightradar24 shows that it took off with just 1.18miles of tarmac.
Mr Chan told the MailOnline: "1900 metres would be inadequate for a 787, which could be an issue(to investigate). The onboard computer would know there is not enough runway and not give you full power.' However, Mr Chan added that the computer can be overridden.
He said: "Something has gone wrong in the cockpit. The aircraft is at maximum thrust at this point. If they weren't able to reach altitude, it might indicate an issue with the engine. They weren't getting the thrust they thought they should be."
Could birds have struck the engine?
Other experts have pointed to a bird strike being the cause of the tragic incident in Ahmedabad yesterday. Aviation expert and former Indian Navy pilot Capt Saurabh Bhatnagar told NDTV the videos looks like a case of "multiple bird hits", which lead to both engines losing power.
"The takeoff was perfect and just I believe short of taking the gear up the aircraft started descending, which only happens if the engine loses power or the aircraft stops delivering the lift," he told the Indian national broadcaster.
Former US Air Force Pilot Lt Col John R Davidson backed up Bhatnagar's claim, saying: " Weather, windshear or even bird strike can't be ruled out either at this early stage."
There are a number of other theories circulating on social media, including the plane not being set up properly for take off because its "flaps" were not properly deployed. Tensions have also reached boiling point between India and Pakistan in recent months after the murder of 25 Indian tourists by militants in Kashmir. Security experts say it would be unwise to rule out security issues at this early stage.
