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Metro
4 hours ago
- General
- Metro
Boy who filmed Air India crash was trying to show friends 'how planes fly'
The teenager who filmed the Air India crash has said he would not 'sit on a plane' again after witnessing the disaster. Aryan Ansari, 17, was standing on a terrace of a three-storey building to film the Boeing 787 on his phone as it left Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, in order to show his friends 'how planes fly.' He captured the doomed flight AI 171 bound for London Gatwick as it smashed into the ground before exploding in a ball of fire less than a minute after taking to the sky. The disaster claimed the lives of all but one of 242 people on board, 53 of whom were British. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was in seat 11A when he managed to escape from the burning wreckage. Aryan was visiting his father in Gujarat with his sister when he and Raj Singh, 16, observed planes at the airport. Despite having dreams of flying, Aryan said he was put off setting foot on an aircraft after watching the disaster unfold before his eyes. He told local media that he thought the aircraft was attempting to land before realising it was crashing. 'I came here on June 12. The plane was passing very close, so I thought of shooting a video to show to my friends', the teenager said. 'The plane went downwards, and I thought it was going to land as the airport was nearby. 'But when it went down, flames started shooting up, and I saw that it had exploded. I was scared. I showed the video to my sister. I also told my father about it.' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Officials are still trying to ascertain the final death toll and continue to match DNA samples to identify victims' bodies. Some 30 victims had been identified using DNA samples provided by relatives, authorities confirmed. Vigils to honour the dead have taken place in both the UK and India. An investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing involving India's Air Accident Investigation Bureau and the US National Transportation Safety Board. More Trending Air India has been ordered to inspect its Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 787-9 fleet as a 'preventive measure'. The Dreamliner involved in the crash had been delivered to the airline in 2014 and had flown between Ahmedabad and London Gatwick 25 times in the last two years. The last words picked up by air traffic control from a panicked flight deck were 'Thrust not achieved. Falling. Falling. Mayday. Mayday.' One of the two black boxes has been discovered, although authorities have yet to say whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: EasyJet flight makes emergency landing after smoke smell on board MORE: Child, 2, among seven people killed in India helicopter crash MORE: Ryanair engineers 'check every Boeing' after 'spanners found under floorboards'
Time of India
12 hours ago
- Time of India
'It was flying too low, wanted to show my friends': Teen who casually filmed Air India crash, thought plane would land
NEW DELHI: Seventeen-year-old Aryan Ansari was on the terrace of a building near Ahmedabad airport, casually filming planes to show his friends. What he ended up recording was the moment Air India's Dreamliner 787-8 crashed and burst into flames, footage that has since gone viral across the country. 'I came here on June 12. The plane was passing from very close, so I thought of shooting a video to show to my friends,' Aryan recalled. 'The plane went downwards, and I thought it was going to land as the airport was nearby. But then flames started shooting up, I saw that it had exploded. I was scared. I showed the video to my sister. I also told my father about it.' Aryan was attempting to capture a regular flight in action, unaware that he would end up filming one of the deadliest aviation accidents in recent memory. Flight AI 171, bound for London, crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on the afternoon of June 12. Of the 242 people on board, only one person survived. Among the deceased was former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. Aryan's video, which shows the aircraft descending rapidly and then engulfed in flames, is being widely circulated and has become a crucial record of the final moments of the ill-fated flight. Meanwhile, authorities have begun the grim task of identifying the charred remains of the victims. Ahmedabad Civil Hospital is relying on DNA and blood samples provided by relatives to match and release the bodies. 'The bodies of 31 DNAs have been matched. 12 bodies have been handed over to their respective family members,' said Dr Rajnish Patel, Additional Medical Superintendent of the hospital. 'We are waiting for others to come and collect the remains of their relatives.'
India Gazette
14 hours ago
- India Gazette
"Saw that it had exploded, I was scared", says teen who shot video of Ahmedabad plane crash
Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 15 (ANI): Seventeen year old Aryan Ansari who recorded the video of the Air India Dreamliner 787-8 crashing to the ground and getting engulfed in massive flames said he was attempting to capture how planes fly to show his friends when the mishap took place. Standing on the terrace of a building close to the Ahmedabad airport, Aryan said that he noticed that a plane suddenly began to descend and felt that it would land. However, the plane crashed and exploded, after which the flames started to come out of it. Aryan mentioned that he got scared and showed the clip of the moment he videographed to his father and sister. The video that he had shot was shared widely and went viral. 'I came here on June 12. The plane was passing from very close, so I thought of shooting a video to show to my friends. The plane went downwards, and I thought it was going to land as the airport was nearby. But when it went down, flames started shooting up, and saw that it had exploded. I was scared. I showed the video to my sister. I also told my father about it', the teenager said. The AI 171 flight, which was bound for London, crashed soon after takeoff from the Ahmedabad airport in the afternoon of June 12. Only one person of the 242 people onboard the flight AI 171, survived the crash. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was also among the victims of the AI 171 plane crash. Authorities have begun the process of identifying the bodies of the deceased from the charred wreckage with the help of DNA and blood samples provided by relatives. Earlier today, Ahmedabad Additional Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital Dr. Rajnish Patel said a total of 31 DNA samples have been identified and 12 bodies have been handed over to their respective family members. 'The bodies of 31 DNAs have been matched. 12 bodies have been handed over to their respective family members. We are waiting for others to come and collect the remains of their relatives', he told reporters. (ANI)
Time of India
15 hours ago
- Time of India
'Saw that it had exploded, I was scared', says teen who shot video of Ahmedabad plane crash
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Seventeen year old Aryan Ansari who recorded the video of the Air India Dreamliner 787-8 crashing to the ground and getting engulfed in massive flames said he was attempting to capture how planes fly to show his friends when the mishap took on the terrace of a building close to the Ahmedabad airport , Aryan said that he noticed that a plane suddenly began to descend and felt that it would land. However, the plane crashed and exploded, after which the flames started to come out of it. Aryan mentioned that he got scared and showed the clip of the moment he videographed to his father and sister. The video that he had shot was shared widely and went viral."I came here on June 12. The plane was passing from very close, so I thought of shooting a video to show to my friends. The plane went downwards, and I thought it was going to land as the airport was nearby. But when it went down, flames started shooting up, and saw that it had exploded. I was scared. I showed the video to my sister. I also told my father about it", the teenager AI 171 flight , which was bound for London, crashed soon after takeoff from the Ahmedabad airport in the afternoon of June 12. Only one person of the 242 people onboard the flight AI 171, survived the crash. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupwas also among the victims of the AI 171 plane have begun the process of identifying the bodies of the deceased from the charred wreckage with the help of DNA and blood samples provided by relatives. Earlier today, Ahmedabad Additional Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital Dr. Rajnish Patel said a total of 31 DNA samples have been identified and 12 bodies have been handed over to their respective family members."The bodies of 31 DNAs have been matched. 12 bodies have been handed over to their respective family members. We are waiting for others to come and collect the remains of their relatives", he told reporters.
Indian Express
17 hours ago
- General
- Indian Express
Air India plane crash: Ansari's video clue points to equipment-linked emergency, possible power backup deployment; Flight Data Recorder holds key
A video of the last moments of the doomed Air India Boeing 787-8 could offer new insight into the crash till the time the flight data recorder (FDR) data is analysed. The video, shot by a class 12 student and amateur terrace photographer Aryan Ansari, could challenge a few theories doing the rounds on what might have led to the crash in Ahmedabad—the deadliest disaster involving an Indian airline in decades and the world's first-ever Boeing 787 crash. While aviation experts did speculate whether the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) or RAT (Ram Air Turbine)—both emergency power sources on the aircraft—were deployed, the clearer video sourced directly from Ansari's phone seems to suggest that the RAT was down. That ties in with what the sole survivor testified to—a loud bang accompanied by the light going out, and then a green light coming in the cabin. And the captain's mayday call. The bang could be indicative of a lower hatch giving way and the RAT being deployed automatically, a regulatory source said, while adding that there could be other triggers for a loud sound too. The RAT is essentially a wind turbine located just behind the landing gear console that deploys into the airstream to generate power only when primary and secondary power sources fail. The APU is a smaller turbine engine, typically located in the tail section of the aircraft, that provides electrical and pneumatic power for various on-board systems. Now, a dual engine failure is the rarest-of-rare event. But if the RAT deployed, it means there was a grave emergency—either a total electrical failure, a debilitating hydraulic failure, or a dual-engine failure, or a combination of these or more factors. Given the appearance of not sufficient lift and loss of thrust, the dual-engine failure theory, which many experts earlier said was not probable but still theoretically possible, could now well be a leading question for investigators to look into. At a media briefing on Saturday, Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu had said that investigators will look at all the theories doing the rounds. To be sure, it is too early to jump to any conclusion based on the initial video evidence, considering aircraft are extremely sophisticated and complex machines and detailed and painstaking investigations are required to ascertain the exact cause or combination of causes. All that the clearer video now available does, however, is provide investigators with a crucial clue. Fuel contamination or clogging of fuel can lead to the engines being starved, leading to a sudden shutdown. A source at the airport did indicate that refuelling took longer than usual (at 42 minutes), but a few others indicated that this was not really an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence for a long-distance international flight with full load. Could it have been bird strikes? The footage available so far does not seem to suggest that. Also, although the Ahmedabad airport has a higher-than-average count of bird hits compared to other airports in the country, it would again be a rarest-of-rare event for a bird hit to disable both engines together. So far, there is no evidence to suggest such a significant bird strike, neither in the initial footage of the aircraft accident, nor at the airfield in the form of bird carcasses. Coming to the RAT deployment, the device is a last resort for providing basic power to the aircraft when everything else fails. But the RAT is more useful at higher or cruising altitudes, giving the pilots enough time to land at the closest available airfield. Neither time nor altitude was available to the pilots of flight AI-171. The plane had just lifted off the runway and was barely at an altitude of 625 feet—400-odd feet if Ahmedabad airport's 200-feet elevation is accounted for—before it crashed within moments. The odds that an aviation accident has a single trigger are rare, and crashes usually have a series of things that go wrong together or one leading to another. The one thing that experts were increasingly converging on before Ansari's clearer video emerged was that the landing gear of AI-171 was down and flaps were perhaps not retracted, well after the aircraft climbed off the runway. The possibility of an erroneous retraction of the flaps, instead of the gear, was a possibility that some were pointing to. The apparent lack of lift, something that the sole survivor attested to when he said the plane seemed to hang mid-air before going down, seemed to attest to this theory. The RAT deployment. though, changes all of this entirely. From the available videos, the rate of rotation (the action of pulling back a yoke or centre stick to lift the nose wheel off the ground during takeoff) appears to have been fine, but the undercarriage not being lifted up despite the aircraft being airborne is when things seem to have started going wrong. The landing gear should have been retracted by the time the time the aircraft reached 100 feet, after the 'positive rate' of climb is achieved, which is when the captain gives the 'gear up' command to the co-pilot for retracting the landing gear. The gear being down, along with incorrect wing flap configuration, together would lead to insufficient lift coupled with significant drag. Even a partial loss of thrust could have potentially impacted the lift given that landing gear was down. The pilots pulling the nose up towards the end seems to suggest a desperate move as the terrain warning would've started sounding in the cockpit While the FDR has been found, and will certainly provide deep insights into the reasons of the crash, the other black box—cockpit voice recorder (CVR)—will also be critical in the investigation, the details of the pilots' interaction with each other and the air traffic control will emerge from it, and so will the details of the warnings and alarms that would have been sounded in the cockpit before the fatal crash. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More Anil Sasi is National Business Editor with the Indian Express and writes on business and finance issues. He has worked with The Hindu Business Line and Business Standard and is an alumnus of Delhi University. ... Read More
