Deadly civilian plane crashes in India over the decades
June 12 — More than 100 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India's western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, authorities said, one of the country's worst aviation disasters.
Following are details of some other airline accidents in India in recent years:
5 Air India Flight AI171 crashed into well- known medical college while students were having lunch inside.
EyePress News/Shutterstock
AUGUST 2020
Twenty-one people died when an Air India Express Boeing 737 plane skidded off the runway in the southern city of Kozhikode during heavy rain, plunged into a valley and crashed nose-first into the ground.
MAY 2010
An Air India Boeing 737 flight from Dubai overshot the runway at the airport in the southern city of Mangaluru and crashed into a gorge, killing 158 people on board.
5 A family member cries upon hearing the news of her brother who died in the crash June 12th.
REUTERS
5 Debris at the site of the Thursday morning plane crash.
SIDDHARAJ SOLANKI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
JULY 2000
More than 50 people were killed when a state-owned Alliance Air flight between Kolkata and the capital, New Delhi, crashed in a residential area of the eastern city of Patna.
NOVEMBER 1996
Some 350 passengers were killed when a Saudi Arabian Airlines plane and a Kazakhstan Airlines plane collided head-on mid-air over the town of Charkhi Dadri in the northern Haryana state.
APRIL 1993
An Indian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed during takeoff in the western city of Aurangabad and killed 55 people on board.
5 Rescue officials work at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad.
AP
AUGUST 1991
An Indian Airlines Boeing 737 flight from Kolkata crashed during descent near Imphal, the capital of the hilly north-eastern state of Manipur, killing all 69 occupants onboard.
5 Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
REUTERS
OCTOBER 1988
More than 130 passengers died when an Indian Airlines Boeing 737, flying from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, crashed as it was coming in to land.
JANUARY 1978
All 213 passengers of an Air India flight were killed when the captain lost control of the plane after take-off and it plunged into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai, India's financial hub.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Co-pilot error suspected in new Air India crash theory
The co-pilot of Air India Flight AI171 may have made a fatal error, causing the crash that killed 241 people onboard and dozens more on the ground, an aviation expert has claimed. Captain Steve Scheibner, a veteran commercial airline pilot, claims the London Gatwick-bound 787 Dreamliner co-pilot may have been asked to retract the landing gear but pulled the wrong lever and instead raised the flaps. The former American Airlines pilot's claims, broadcast on his YouTube channel, came as it emerged air accident investigators in India were planning to interview pilots and crew who had flown in the plane in the week leading up to the crash. It is hoped they may hold clues as to why the plane crashed just minutes after take off from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on June 12. Meanwhile, investigators are understood to have begun decoding the black box's flight data to try to establish exactly what happened before the crash. Captain Steve believes a simple catastrophic error may have caused the plane to plunge from the sky. 'Here's what I think happened, again folks this is just my opinion,' he said. 'I think the pilot flying said to the co-pilot 'gear up' at the appropriate time. I think the co-pilot grabbed the flap handle and raised the flaps, instead of the gear. 'If that happened, this explains a lot of why this aeroplane stopped flying.' He explained how the wings would normally bend during take-off as the lift forces it into the air. But video footage appears to not show that happening, fuelling speculation that the flaps, used to help lift the plane, had been retracted. The landing gear also remained down, despite it being normal procedure to lift them within a few seconds of clearing the Tarmac. Aviation experts have analysed the take-off footage and also highlighted concerns that the flaps appear to have been retracted and the undercarriage remains down. Marco Chan, a former pilot and a senior lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University, told the BBC: 'That would point to potential human error if flaps aren't set correctly. But the resolution of the video is too low to confirm that.' About 30 seconds after take-off, the plane dips and descends before exploding into a fireball as it crashes into buildings. Both pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kunder are believed among the dead. Mr Sabharwal had 8,200 hours of experience. Mr Kunder had 1,100 hours. The cause of the crash remains a mystery, with theories focusing on whether it was a catastrophic mechanical failure or pilot errors. A source linked to the investigation told Reuters that India's aviation regulator has ordered safety checks on the Boeing 787 fleet. He added that the official inquiry was initially focusing on engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained down after the plane was airborne. The India-based source said another aspect of the investigation would look at Air India's maintenance of the aircraft. Other theories include the possibility of two air strikes taking out both engines, however this is thought unlikely. An anti-terrorism team is understood to be part of the official investigation, although this is thought to be routine. A team of four investigators from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has arrived in India to join experts from the US and India. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the British sole crash survivor, described seeing 'lights flickering' moments after take-off. It remains unclear whether this was in any way connected to any wider failings, in part because the circuitry that controls internal lights is separate to electrical supplies that help fly the plane. The aircraft began service in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014. It had completed 700 flights in the year leading up to the disaster. It is understood the flight number AI 171 is to be discontinued. It will be replaced with the flight number AI159. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Death toll in Air India plane crash climbs to 270 as search teams find more bodies on the ground
Search and recovery teams continued scouring the site of one of India's worst aviation disasters for a third day after the Air India flight fell from the sky and killed at least 270 people in Gujarat state, officials said Saturday. The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger survived. Recovery teams working until late Friday found at least 25 more bodies in the debris, officials said. 8 Caskets carrying the remains of some of the victims of Thursday's Air India plane crash are loaded onto a vehicle to be transported to their respective homes at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, June 14, 2025. AP Dr. Dhaval Gameti at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad told The Associated Press the facility had received 270 bodies, adding that the lone surviving passenger was still under observation for some of his wounds. 'He is doing very well and will be ready to be discharged anytime soon,' Gameti said Saturday. Hundreds of relatives of the crash victims have provided DNA samples at the hospital. Most bodies were charred or mutilated, making them unrecognizable. Some relatives expressed frustration Saturday that the process was taking too long. Authorities say it normally takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching, and they are expediting the process. 8 Search and recovery teams continued scouring the site of one of India's worst aviation disasters for a third day after the Air India flight crashed and killed at least 270 people in Gujarat state. AFP via Getty Images 'Where are my children? Did you recover them?' asked Rafiq Abdullah, whose nephew, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren were on the flight. 'I will have to ask questions. Government is not answering these questions.' Another relative persistently asked hospital staff when his relative's body would be handed over to the family for the last rites. 'Give us the body,' the relative insisted. 8 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) visiting Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the only survivor in an Air India plane crash, at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India's western state of Gujarat, June 13, 2025. Xinhua/Shutterstock Alongside the formal investigation, the Indian government says it has formed a high-level, multi-disciplinary committee to examine the causes leading to the crash. The committee will focus on formulating procedures to prevent and handle aircraft emergencies in the future and 'will not be a substitute to other enquiries being conducted by relevant organisations,' the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement. Read more on the Air India plane crash Authorities have begun inspecting Air India's entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Indian Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday in New Delhi at his first news briefing since Thursday's crash. Eight of the 34 Dreamliner aircraft in India have already undergone inspection, Kinjarapu said, adding that the remaining aircraft will be examined with 'immediate urgency.' 8 Officials inspect the site of Thursday's Air India plane crash on the roof of a building in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, June 13, 2025. AP 8 The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff. Press Information Bureau HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The government is eagerly awaiting the results of the crash investigation by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, and all necessary steps will be taken without hesitation, Kinjarapu said. Investigators on Friday recovered the plane's digital flight data recorder, or the black box, which was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and likely will lead to clues about the cause of the accident. India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said it had started working with 'full force' to extract the data. 8 A man gestures angrily as he waits for the bodies of four relatives who died in the Air India plane crash, at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, June 14, 2025. AP The device is expected to reveal information about the engine and control settings, while the voice recorder will provide cockpit conversations, said Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the U.K.-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators should be able to answer some important questions about what caused the crash as soon as next week, as long as the flight data recorder is in good shape. Investigators likely are looking at whether wing flaps were set correctly, the engine lost power, alarms were going off inside the cockpit, and if the plane's crew correctly logged information about the hot temperature outside and the weight of the fuel and passengers, Guzzetti said. 8 Some relatives expressed frustration Saturday that the process of identifying the victims was taking too long. AP 8 A relative of a victim of Thursday's Air India plane crash is comforted as he breaks down at a hospital in Ahmedabad, India. AP Mistakes in the data could result in the wing flaps being set incorrectly, he said. Thursday's Air India crash involved a 12-year-old Boeing 787. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft. There are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide, and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
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India launches inspection of Boeing 787s after Air India crash
STORY: India's government is urgently inspecting all Boeing 787s, after a devastating Air India crash that claimed at least 270 lives this week. That's according to aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu, who led a moment of silence for those who died in the disaster at a press conference on Saturday. He added that the authorities were investigating all possible causes. On Friday, the aviation regulator ordered Air India to conduct additional maintenance checks on its Boeing 787-8 and 9 aircraft equipped with GEnx engines. :: File Air India operates 33 Boeing 787s, and rival airline IndiGo has one, according to data from Flightradar24. The planes have not been grounded. But a source on Friday told Reuters the Indian government was considering that as an option. Air India and the Indian government are looking at several aspects of the crash, including issues linked to its engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained open as the plane took off and then came down. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for Britain's Gatwick Airport with 242 people on board began losing height seconds after take-off on Thursday. It then erupted in a fireball as it hit buildings below, in what has been the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. Only one of the passengers and crew onboard survived, while others were killed as the plane struck a medical college's hostel as it came down. The crisis has cast a shadow on Air India, which has for years struggled to rebuild its reputation and revamp its fleet. Meanwhile, anxious family members await news of their loved ones, with some hoping to collect the bodies of those killed in the crash. Some say they have been told by authorities that it will take 72 hours for DNA profiling. Imtiaz Syed Ali says his brother was on the flight when it crashed. He says he came to give a DNA sample to help identify those who died, but added he does not trust the process. "I have this mental urge to see the body of my deceased brother," he says. "That is when I will accept that this is my brother and he is dead." Most bodies in the crash were badly charred, and authorities say they are using dental samples to run identification checks.
