What caused Air India Flight AI171 to crash? The key information we know so far
The Indian government is reportedly looking at a number of factors that may explain why Air India flight AI 171 crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday, killing all but one of its 242 passengers.
The London Gatwick-bound plane - which was carrying 53 British passengers, 169 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese and one Canadian - crashed into a medical college and erupted in a huge fireball on Thursday.
The sole survivor was Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40. At least 24 more people on the ground died.
One of two black boxes has reportedly been found in a bid to help piece together vital clues that could shed light on the cause of the accident.
On Friday, it was reported Air India and the Indian government are looking at several aspects of the crash, including issues with the jet's engine thrust, its flaps, and why its landing gear remained open. The government is also looking at whether Air India was at fault, including over maintenance issues, a source told Reuters.
Experts have also raised questions about the plane's landing gear, which was down when it should have been up, as well as the wing flaps. Some have raised the possibility of a power failure or bird strike.
Here, Yahoo News UK looks at what investigators are likely to be considering.
The Reuters news agency has reported two police sources as saying one of two black boxes from the plane has been found.
They did not say whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder that had been recovered.
The black boxes, which are actually coloured orange to make them easier to find in the event of a crash, will be critical in establishing what actually happened.
There are normally two recorders: a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) for pilot voices or cockpit sounds, and a separate Flight Data Recorder (FDR),
They are mandatory on civil flights but their aim is not to determine any wrongdoing or fault - they are designed is to preserve clues from cockpit sounds and data to help prevent future accidents.
According to Reuters, investigators say the FDR helps them analyse what happened and the CVR can start to explain why - though no two investigations are the same.
According to Airbus: "Flight recorders store data (aircraft parameters) and sound (pilot, copilot, radio communications and the cockpit ambient noise). The recording device is crash-protected up to a certain level. It is resistant to fire, explosion, impact and water immersion."
Video of the plane before the crash has shown its landing gear was down. Usually, this folds back into the aircraft immediately after it becomes airborne.
Former British Airways pilot Alastair Rosenschein told Sky News: "It's clearly got its [landing] gear down and that is not correct... it should have been up."
Watch: Moment Air India flight crashes after take-off
He added: "I cannot understand why the [landing] gear would have been down... [and] left down. That would suggest, perhaps, a hydraulic problem because it's hydraulics that raise the gear." However, he made clear this was speculation.
US aerospace safety consultant Anthony Brickhouse also said of the landing gear being down: "If you didn't know what was happening, you would think that plane was on approach to a runway."
Steve Scheibner, an American Airlines pilot, also suggested there were abnormalities with the plane's wing flaps and linked this to the landing gear being down. He said it te fl
Air India and the Indian government are reportedly looking at several aspects of the crash, including issues with the jet's engine thrust, its flaps, and why its landing gear remained open.
Pilot Sumeet Sabharwal and his co-pilot Clive Kundar cried 'mayday' as the plane lost altitude, saying the engine was 'losing power'.
According to reports, Sabharwal, who had more than 8,000 hours of flying experience, said he had 'no thrust' and was 'unable to lift'.
And the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources, that an investigation into the crash was focusing on "whether the aircraft had a loss or reduction in engine thrust".
Dr Jason Knight, a senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth, told The Telegraph: 'It appears from the video there is a cloud of dust just after take-off.
'I'm not sure, but it appears as though the cloud of dust could be from the engines as they both fail.'
A twin engine failure is extremely rare.
The BBC reported experts familiar with Ahmedabad Airport as saying it is "notorious for birds", which can cause engine failures.
Dr Knight also said "the most likely [reason] is a bird strike in both engines".
But Scheibner said he didn't think a bird strike is a "likely theory". "We don't see any birds in the picture. It would have to be a lot of birds to foul out both engines and we don't see any indications coming out of the back of the engine that that happened: you'd see flames, you'd see sparks."
Who were the British victims of the Air India plane crash? (The Guardian)
Heartbreaking final selfie of doctor's young family starting a new life in Britain (The Telegraph)
'She was a ray of sunshine': First British victims of Air India plane crash named after 241 killed (The Independent)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Suspected MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia possibly earned $100K a year smuggling illegal immigrants across US: witness
Suspected MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia was paid up to $1,500 per smuggling trip and may have raked in more than $100,000 annually trafficking humans, including minors, according to witnesses. The new details about Abrego Garcia's alleged 'full-time job' come from co-conspirators and witnesses cooperating with the federal government's human smuggling case against the Salvadoran national who was wrongly deported in March. The allegations were shared by a federal agent during a Friday detention hearing in a Nashville court, where Abrego Garcia entered a plea of not guilty. Advertisement 4 Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March but brought back to the US earlier this month and charged with human smuggling. via REUTERS 4 The human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, where he was pulled over driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Tennessee Highway Patrol As part of the illegal operation, smugglers charged migrants from Central and South America $8,000 for passage into the US — and Abrego Garcia would pick them up in Texas to transport them across the US, Homeland Security Investigations special agent Peter Joseph testified. Advertisement Abrego Garcia was paid between up to $1,500 per trip and made about one to two smuggling trips per week, according to one co-conspirator, Joseph revealed. The trips may have netted the Maryland man more than $100,000 per year in income. The payment structure was corroborated by a second co-conspirator helping federal authorities, who noted $1,000 payments were passed from the trafficker to the driver making the long-haul trips. The co-conspirator also alleged that roughly 30% of the smuggling operation's customers were gang members. Advertisement The human smuggling charges against Abrego Garcia stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, where Abrego Garcia was pulled over driving a vehicle with nine passengers. An envelope stuffed with $1,400 in cash was found on the illegal immigrant during the speeding stop, a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer noted in body camera video of the encounter, which also demonstrates that the officers had suspicions the Maryland man was smuggling the people in the car. 4 Abrego Garcia was paid between up to $1,500 per smuggling trip and made about one to two treks per week, according to one co-conspirator. DHS Joseph testified that the vehicle Abrego Garcia was stopped in was owned by Jose Hernandez-Reyes, a convicted migrant smuggler, and that six of the nine occupants were in the US illegally. Advertisement Witnesses further alleged that children were also transported during the trips and forced to sit on the floorboards. One of Abrego Garcia's co-conspirators told authorities that they witnessed drug and gun smuggling, as well, and that the weapons — which included handguns and semi-automatic rifles — were hidden beneath the children on the trips. Testimony related to allegations that Abrego Garcia had sexual relationships with some of his passengers, including a minor, was limited after his defense team objected. 4 Abrego Garcia may have earned $100,000 a year smuggling migrants, according to witnesses. AP Abrego Garcia is not charged with any sex, drug or gun crimes. The evidence was presented during the hearing to demonstrate that Abrego Garcia presents a danger to the community and should remain behind bars. His lawyers have called the allegations presented by the Justice Department 'preposterous.' The defense team also pressed Joseph on any deals he's cut with the government witnesses, suggesting that their testimony presents a conflict of interest. Abrego Garcia's lawyers noted that one witness had been previously deported and is serving a 30-month prison sentence, but is now living in a halfway house and may receive work authorization. Advertisement A second witness, according to defense lawyers, is a close relative of the first witness and indicated he would cooperate in return for his release from jail. A third had previously been compensated for helping law enforcement. With Post wires
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Marines reportedly detain man outside L.A. federal building
NEW: Video from news agency Reuters appears to show a man being detained outside the Westwood Federal Building in Los Angeles. Reuters said it was the first detention by a U.S. Marine during the deployment for area protests over immigration enforcement. It's not clear why the man was detained. U.S. Northern Command confirmed the detention by U.S. Marines, saying it was temporary and justified under the assignment to protect federal assets, which include the property formally known as the 11000
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
US Marines temporarily detain a civilian — an Army veteran — for the first time in LA
Marines deployed to Los Angeles temporarily detained a civilian on Friday, the U.S. military confirmed after being presented with Reuters images, in the first known detention by active-duty troops deployed there by President Donald Trump. The incident took place at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles where Marines took charge of the mission to protect the building earlier on Friday, in a rare domestic use of U.S. troops after days of protests over immigration raids. Reuters images showed Marines apprehending the man, restraining his hands with zip ties and then handing him over to civilians from the Department of Homeland Security. The U.S. military confirmed that Marines deployed to Los Angeles in the wake of the anti-ICE riots have detained U.S. civilian Marcos Leao, 27, an Army veteran. REUTERS Asked about the incident, the U.S. military's Northern Command spokesperson said active duty forces 'may temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances.' 'Any temporary detention ends immediately when the individual(s) can be safely transferred to the custody of appropriate civilian law enforcement personnel,' a spokesperson said. Speaking to reporters after he was released, the civilian identified himself as Marcos Leao, 27. Leao said he was an Army veteran on his way to an office of the Department of Veterans Affairs when he crossed a yellow tape boundary and was asked to stop. Leao, who gained his U.S. citizenship through military service, said he was treated 'very fairly.' 'They're just doing their job,' said Leao, who is of Angolan and Portuguese descent. The 200 Marines and more than 2,000 National Guard now deployed to Los Angeles are tasked with protecting federal property and federal personnel. They will be joined by an additional 500 Marines and 2,000 more National Guard soldiers. This means that they will accompany ICE agents on raids, officials have said. The troops are authorized to detain people who pose a threat to federal personnel or property, but only until police can arrest them. Military officials are not allowed to carry out arrests themselves. The Posse Comitatus Act generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. Trump could take a more far-reaching step by invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement.
