Air India Flight Crashes After Take-off in Ahmedabad

What Happened?

An Air India flight crashed shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad, India, reportedly killing all but one person onboard and likely many more on the ground. The plane crashed into a densely populated area near the airport and India’s Ministry of Health said that there were likely many deaths on the ground. 

According to Air India, there were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian on the London Gatwick Airport-bound flight. Video footage showed the aircraft leaving the airport then descending into a crowded area shortly after take-off.

Why it Matters

Safety has been a growing concern for air travelers worldwide as the number of incidents involving commercial aircraft has increased in the past year. Even more, many of the incidents were captured on video, providing potential air travelers with a detailed and often graphic look at what air disasters can look like.

Video footage of the Air India flight shows the aircraft leaving the airport, and with its landing gear still down, slowly descending until it impacts the ground a short distance away from the end of the runway. From the available video it is difficult to ascertain the exact cause of the crash, but the airframe appeared to be intact after take-off and there was no obvious structural damage. 

The audio component of the footage is also difficult to analyze due to background noise, but it’s possible one or both engines suffered failure just after take-off. The sound of the aircraft passing overhead did not appear to be at the right volume for a 787 with both engines set for take-off thrust, but again background noise could have masked it. 

Another possible cause for the abnormal sound is that the aircraft was going slower than it was supposed to be for a proper take-off. Pulling back on the yoke before proper take-off speed is reached could cause the aircraft to briefly gain altitude before stalling, which is consistent with the way the aircraft appeared to behave on the available footage. A stall is loss of lift, which means the airflow over the wings is no longer generating any upward force. Stalling right after take-off is usually fatal.

Take-off is the most critical phase of flight, where there are the fewest response options if something goes wrong. Problems that occur after the aircraft has reached cruising altitude mean the pilots have more time to take action, but just after take-off the aircraft reaches its point of maximum vulnerability. With a low speed and little altitude, serious problems which occur in this phase of flight are often unrecoverable. 

Since this is a Boeing aircraft, investigators from the U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board will likely participate in the post-crash investigation. Depending on the cause and the exact location of the crash and condition of the debris, investigations can take several months before a cause can be conclusively determined.

How it Affects You

Until the exact cause of the crash is determined, whether or not there is a fleet wide problem for Boeing 787s will remain unknown. If the NTSB or FAA believe there is a widespread problem that could affect other aircraft, they could ground all 787s worldwide.