2 days ago
Australian airline Captain Byron Bailey details why he believes 'pilot error' the reason behind crash of Air India Flight 171
An experienced Australian airline captain has explained why he believes pilot error is to blame for the crash of Air India Flight 171 which has left hundreds of people dead.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner departed Ahmedabad airport, in India's north-west, on Thursday but came down in a densely populated neighbourhood seconds later.
Footage showed the 11-year-old aircraft slowly descending about 15 seconds after lifting from the runway before it hit a medical college hostel and exploded into flames.
Speaking to Sky News Australia, former commercial pilot Captain Byron Bailey said pilot error was "highly likely" the cause of the crash after he watched the video.
He pointed to a "remarkable" part of the clip which showed the landing gear was still down, despite the plane reaching 190 metres in the air, according to Flightradar24.
Captain Bailey said pilots are in constant communication during the takeoff process and when the required speed is reached for takeoff, they pull back on the yoke.
"And the pilot flying will say 'gear up' and that's it for that moment. That occurs at a couple of hundred feet. So why, it's 600 feet, the undercarriage is still down means they haven't selected the gear," he told Sky News.
"The other thing that's remarkable is it appears the flap, which is the high lift devices that enables you to fly slower, they appear not to be down.
"Now, you can't take off without flap."
Captain Bailey suggested it was around this time a fatal error was made.
"But my own suspicion is that when the pilot flying called for gear up, the other pilot inadvertently grabbed the flap lever and pushed it through to zero," he said.
"And once you've done that, immediately you're in a deep stall and at 600 feet you cannot recover. There's not enough height even though the engines are at full power."
The Dreamliner had been labelled as the safest plane up until the crash of Air India.
The 787-8 had not been in a fatal incident since its introduction.
It is one of the most advanced jets and was brought into service in 2011, with Boeing selling more than 2,500 of the model to airlines, including 47 to Air India.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has offered his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and has spoken to Air India's chairman to offer his "full support".
He was due to attend an air show in Paris, but cancelled his appearance. The company was last year plagued with a series of incidents around the world involving its aircraft.
Boeing shares fell about 4.2 per cent after the crash.
India's Aircraft Accident Bureau Investigation has started a formal investigation.
The National Transport Safety Board said a team of US investigators will be flown over to India to support local authorities to find the exact cause which led to the fatal incident.
British Air Accidents Investigation Branch has also offered its assistance.
Air India on Friday confirmed 241 of the 242 passengers and crew were killed.
It said there were 230 passengers and 12 crew on board, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian, and seven Portuguese nationals.
The sole survivor has been named as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, a British-Indian national who was assigned seat 11A, according to officials and media on the ground.
Police have taped off the scene at the site of the crash.
Medical technicians transported blue boxes, which contained human remains, to be forensically tested to confirm their identity as most bodies were badly burnt.
