Latest news with #planeCrash
News.com.au
9 hours ago
- General
- News.com.au
‘Take care': Pilot's last words before doomed Air India flight
The lead pilot in the Air India plane disaster said he would 'be back soon' as he left for work on the day flight 171 crashed, killing 260 people. Speculation has mounted about Captain Sumeet Sabharwal after the probe into the June 12 crash indicated switches controlling fuel flow to the plane's engines were turned off shortly after takeoff. Some experts who have reviewed the initial report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) believe a pilot on board moved the switches. Fingers have been pointed at Captain Sabharwal because his younger co-pilot, Clive Kunder, would have had his 'hands full' while flying the plane. It has led to claims the tragedy was a case of 'suicide by captain', with Sky News aviation expert Captain Byron Bailey saying the switches were turned off at the 'perfect time' to cause a crash. But a new report from The Telegraph has revealed Captain Sabharwal's last words to a security guard at his apartment complex suggested no hint of the looming disaster. 'Please, take care of papa. I will be back soon,' he reportedly said. The security guard, Sunil Lokhande, told the UK newspaper: 'He smiled and went away. You'd never guess he carried any sadness inside.' Friends have also revealed Captain Sabharwal was considering an early retirement from flying in order to care of his elderly father, who lived at the same apartment block. 'His father is very old, and he was going to look after him full time. That was the plan,' former colleague Neil Pais said. Mr Pais said Captain Sabharwal had absolutely 'no airs about himself' and 'always (wore) a smile when he spoke to you'. 'I never once saw him raise his voice or lose his temper. And yet he never compromised on work or safety,' he said. 'If there was an issue, he'd point it out, but always in the nicest possible way.' The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flying from Ahmedabad in western India to London plummeted shortly after takeoff, killing all but one of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground. The AAIB's report found that both engine fuel 'cut off' switches flipped to the off position almost simultaneously, starving the engines of fuel and causing the plane to lose thrust and crash. It also suggested microchip malfunction caused the issue, not human error. The first was moved three seconds after lift off and the other one second later, the AAIB report found, before being turned back on a further 10 seconds later. But an assessment by US officials of the AAIB report and black-box material, according to the Wall Street Journal, pointed the finger at a pilot. Captain Bailey told Sky News the co-pilot Mr Kunder would have been occupied flying the plane, leaving the senior pilot monitoring the flight – Captain Sabharwal – as the only one capable of moving the mechanical switches. 'They require absolute physical effort to lift the switch up, raise it over … and back down. So it had to be done by one of the pilots,' he said. 'What is very obvious to pilots is, three seconds after lift off is the perfect time to have done this.' Campbell Wilson, chief executive of Air India, last week told staff in a memo the investigation was 'far from over'. Mr Wilson said 'over the past 30 days, we've seen an ongoing cycle of theories, allegations, rumours and sensational headlines, many of which have later been disproven'. The Indian Commercial Pilots Association said on Sunday it was 'deeply disturbed by speculative narratives' surrounding the Air India crash 'particularly the reckless and unfounded insinuation of pilot suicide'. 'There is absolutely no basis for such a claim at this stage,' it said in a statement, adding, 'it is deeply insensitive to the individuals and families involved.' 'To casually suggest pilot suicide without verified evidence is a gross violation of ethical reporting and a disservice to the dignity of the profession,' it said.
News.com.au
a day ago
- General
- News.com.au
Body found in search for missing pilot who crashed in Snowy Mountains
The body of a man has been found in the wreckage of a plane that went missing in the Snowy Mountains earlier this week. The body was located at the crash site just before 3pm on Friday, and police believe it is the remains of pilot David Stephens. 'While he is yet to be formally identified, police believe the body is that of the missing pilot,' NSW police said in a statement. The body is expected to be recovered from the crash site later Friday afternoon and a report will be prepared for the coroner. Earlier on Friday police conceded it was 'fairly clear' Mr Stephens had not survived the impact. The 74-year-old, an experienced pilot from Bega, was flying the 1966 Beechcraft Debonair plane from Wangaratta in Victoria to Moruya Airport on the NSW South Coast on Tuesday when he lost contact. NSW Police confirmed the plane's wreckage was found about 4pm on Thursday, with a rescue helicopter locating 'what is believed to be the crashed plane near the plane's last known GPS location'. Speaking on Friday, Superintendent Andrew Spliet said crews were still working to find the cause of the crash and the pilot's whereabouts. He told reporters the impact of the crash was significant and it was 'fairly clear that wouldn't be survivable'. The pilot's body has not been located. Superintendent Spliet said the impact of the crash was so severe 'you wouldn't recognise it as a plane'. 'Obviously, (there was) a fair bit of speed into the mountain range there, which has completely destroyed that aircraft,' he said. 'And as I said, it wouldn't be a survivable collision.' He explained the conditions in the Snowy Mountains were 'very difficult' for the emergency crews to access, with lots of snow and a 'very steep' terrain. 'It was a lot of very steep, overgrown terrain up there, so it was difficult to locate initially and also due to those weather conditions,' Superintendent Spliet said. 'But when that cleared, we were able to get those air assets over the co-ordinates that we've been provided, and that's when the crash site was identified.' He said an investigation into the crash would determine if the weather played a role. 'Obviously, that evening … the weather conditions were fairly unpleasant and not very good for search and the air assets in the air at the time,' he said. 'I would say that (the weather conditions) weren't ideal.' Mr Stephens' wife Lynda Leigh told the ABC that he was an experienced pilot and only two months from retiring. He had been on his way home when he disappeared. 'It is known that the mountain weather can turn very quickly, and we can only assume he must have seen a way over the mountain to decide not to turn back to Wangaratta,' she said. 'David has quite a bit of experience flying that plane, but we can't know what situation he was facing, and we'll only have answers once they locate the plane and with that David.' Friend and Frog's Hollow Flyers aero club president Tony Radcliffe told 9News that Mr Stephens was a 'very capable' pilot, though Mr Radcliffe was worried about the conditions Mr Stephens faced. 'We call it tiger country, anywhere that's difficult to make a forced landing,' he told the outlet. 'We're all aware of the different possibilities in flying light aircraft. David's very capable and very experienced to be flying the length that he has.'
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Teen struck and killed by small plane that crashed into boat dock in Lake Scugog
Durham police are investigating after a plane crashed into Lake Scugog on July 18, 2025. A teenager is dead after being struck by a plane that crashed into a boat dock in Lake Scugog Friday afternoon. Police said a small plane crashed near the community of Caesarea at around 12:25 p.m. Images from the scene show the aftermath of the crash, with the plane upside down resting on top of a pontoon boat. Plane crash Police tape surround a boat dock where a plane crashed in Lake Scugog on Friday, July 18, 2025. (CTV News) Durham police said the pilot and the passenger of the plane were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries. The cause of the crash is unknown. Police said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has been notified and will take over the investigation. In a deployment notice, the TSB confirmed that it was sending a team of investigators to the scene to 'gather information and assess the occurrence.'
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
Small plane crashes in Lake Scugog, police say
A small plane has crashed in Lake Scugog, roughly 93 kilometres northeast of Toronto, police say. Durham Regional Police say the crash happened at around 12:25 p.m. Friday. Police confirmed that people were injured in the incident, but that an investigation is ongoing into the extent of the injuries and who was involved.
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Air India says plane ‘well-maintained' before crash
Officials inspect the site of the Air India plane crash on a building rooftop in Ahmedabad that killed 242 people. (AP pic) NEW DELHI : Air India's Boeing plane was 'well-maintained' before it crashed a week ago, killing all but one of 242 people on board, the airline said Thursday. Indian authorities are yet to detail what caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to hurtle to the ground in the western city of Ahmedabad, where at least 38 people were also left dead. As investigators attempt to retrieve data from the plane's black boxes – the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder – the airline said that no problems were detected with the jet before the disaster. 'The plane was well-maintained, with its last major check in June 2023,' Air India said in a statement. 'Its right engine was overhauled in March 2025, and the left engine was inspected in April 2025. Both the aircraft and engines were regularly monitored, showing no issues before the flight,' the airline said. The London-bound jet burst into a fireball when it smashed into a residential area of Ahmedabad moments after takeoff. Initial checks since the crash on Air India's Dreamliners 'did not reveal any major safety concerns', the country's civil aviation regulator said Tuesday. Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members. The airline on Thursday said the pilots were accomplished flyers. 'The flight was led by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a highly experienced pilot and trainer with over 10,000 hours flying widebody aircraft,' it said. 'First Officer Clive Kunder, had over 3,400 hours of flying experience.' While investigators try to piece together what went wrong, families of dozens of victims are still waiting for their loved ones to be identified. As of Thursday, 210 victims have been identified through DNA testing, state health minister Rushikesh Patel said.
