Air India co-pilot made simple mistake which 'led to horror crash', says expert
A commercial airline pilot who analyses plane crashes has shared his theory on Thursday's crash.
The co-pilot on the Air India flight involved in Thursday's horror crash pulled the aircraft's wing flaps in instead of retracting its landing gear, an aviation expert has claimed.
According to commercial airline pilot and YouTuber, Captain Steve, the simple but devastating error caused the London-bound plane to crash into a residential area in Ahmedabad, western India, on June 12, killing all but one of the 242 people on board.
Steve, who analyses aviation crashes and close calls, said yesterday: "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.
"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 airplane stopped flying."
Raising the flaps would have resulted in the aircraft losing speed and altitude quickly, which Steve says would have been challenging to control. He believes this would have resulted in the impact with the ground, and the world's worst aviation disaster in 10 years, the Mirror reports.
Steve believes his theory to be correct because the composite wings on the Boeing 787 would normally bend during take-off as the lift forces take it upwards into the sky. However, in shocking footage taken seconds before the crash, the wings do not appear to do so, supporting the idea that the flaps which help with lift had accidentally been pulled back.
Crash investigators will only get definitive answers about what happened once they have located both of the plane's black boxes and analysed their data. One was found amongst the wreckage on Friday morning, and the recordings will be examined by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Other possible causes being considered include possible engine failure, miscalculation of the runway and a bird strike. However, Steve acknowledged that, although both pilots were highly experienced, human error is possible.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal was in charge, assisted by First Officer Clive Kundar, and between them, they had over 9,000 hours of flying experience. Both tragically lost their lives in the crash.
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The only survivor of the disaster, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, managed to walk from the wreckage after the middle section of the plane - where he sat in seat 11A - was spared the worst of the impact.
The 40-year-old said: "I still can't believe how I came out of it alive. For a moment, I felt like I was going to die too." He was taken to hospital after the crash, with family members from Leicester travelling to be by his side.
He added: "When I opened my eyes and looked around, I realised I was alive. I still can't believe how I survived."
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