Air India crash: How the plane travelled to and from Melbourne Airport just days ago
A doomed plane left Australia just days before it crashed killing more than 240 people in what experts are calling the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
Air India flight AI171 crashed moments after taking off from Ahmedabad, a city in western India, for London on Thursday afternoon.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was bound for Gatwick Airport, south of London, carrying 242 passengers when it crashed into a medical college hostel.
On June 8, just four days before the crash, the same plane flew in-and-out from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport, a 20 minute drive north-east of the CBD.
Flight AI308 landed in Melbourne at 9.08pm on Sunday before taking off for a return flight AI309 to Delhi at 11.18pm, according to FlightRadar 24.
A spokesperson for Melbourne Airport confirmed the flight data with Daily Mail Australia.
It landed at 7.06am before running flights to and from Tokyo and Paris over the next three days before arriving at Ahmedabad at 11.16am on the morning of June 12.
Aviaton Projects managing director Keith Tonkin told Daily Mail Australia investigations into the crash would help to determine whether the incident could theoretically have occurred in Melbourne.
'Investigators will focus on what happened in the time period between the pilots deciding to continue the take-off at their decision point and the point at which the aircraft started its downward trajectory towards the impact site,' he said.
'Was there a sudden loss of thrust, were the lift devices on the wings correctly configured, and why wasn't the landing gear retracted?
'If the primary causal factor(s) could be replicated at a different airport under similar circumstances, then it would be fair to conclude that the accident could happen at Melbourne Airport.'
The plane, whose registration number was VT-ANB, would erupt in a fiery explosion seen streets over moments after taking off at 1.38pm that same day.
A video posted to social media depicted the plane struggling to stay aloft while its tail dragged lower than its nose before disappearing from view behind apartment buildings.
Moments later, a fireball erupted over the skyline after it crashed into BJ Medical College Hostel directly south-west of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
Air India has since confirmed only one passenger, a British man, survived the crash with additional deaths on the ground also having been reported.
Images taken by Associated Press captured the ash-strewn interior of the medical college hostel canteen, where half-eaten dishes remained after the lunch-hour crash.
Search and recovery teams are pictured working through the rubble of the plane crash
The Federation of All India Medical Association said between 50 and 60 students were admitted to hospital following the crash.
Indian civil aviation authorities have confirmed personnel on the plane placed a mayday call to air traffic control less than a minute after take-off.
FlightTracker24 said the plane careened towards the ground at a speed of approximately 475feet (or 145metres) per minute.
It is not yet known what caused the crash though US transportation secretary Sean Duffy has said there was 'no indication' of safety concerns with the aircraft model.
Hindustan Times identified the sole survivor of the crash as British father Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, who was reportedly assigned seat 11A.
'Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed,' he told the Indian English-language newspaper from a local hospital.
'It all happened so quickly.'
Air India said the passengers of the flight included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian nationals.
A source told Reuters 217 adults were onboard the flight along with 11 children and two infants.
It is believed to be the deadliest aviation incident since all 298 passengers of flight MH17 died after the jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
World leaders have issued messages of support, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who described the incident as 'heartbreaking beyond words'.
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BBC News
30 minutes ago
- BBC News
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Sky News
33 minutes ago
- Sky News
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Daily Record
34 minutes ago
- Daily Record
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