Civil Aviation Development & Discussion

[tandav]

Breaking! Air crash Ahmedabad to London Air India Boeing 787 crashes on take off in Ahmedabad. The high fuel loads for the long haul flight has caused a major fire. Rescue teams from the NDRF have swung into action

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cit ... 798487.cms

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Bad news. Air India 787 crashes in Ahmedabad.



200+ Casualties suspected.

[arshyam]

Tragic accident. B787 AI flight bound for LGW with 242 pax. Looks like the plane declared mayday soon after take-off and was trying to land again (no smoke from the engines, landing gear was down, looks like a normal landing approach) but crashed near the airport. Sourced from TV news and some videos shared by bystanders from the ground to these channels.

[chetak]

[Mukesh.Kumar]

The plane crashed into a Medical College. There were students having lunch when it crashed into the building where there mess was situated.

[Ambar]

Tragic accident. B787 AI flight bound for LGW with 242 pax. Looks like the plane declared mayday soon after take-off and was trying to land again (no smoke from the engines, landing gear was down, looks like a normal landing approach) but crashed near the airport. Sourced from TV news and some videos shared by bystanders from the ground to these channels.

It was mere 700 ft up when they stalled,so not surprising that the landing gear was still out. It is said that former GJ CM Vijay Rupani was also onboard.

Someone really needs to yank the license of Arnab Goswami and Republic TV. If his exaggerations, lies and silly antics weren't bad enough during 'Operation Sindoor', him and his channel have already turned the tragedy into a narrative against Air India blaming its management and its poor maintainence record, really reckless of him and his channel.

[chetak]

The plane crashed into a Medical College. There were students having lunch when it crashed into the building where there mess was situated.

Sadly, it appears that this mess was being used by super specialized/speciality doctors, and would have been crowded at that hour.

[Tanaji]

For those speculating Indian plane losses in Op Sindoor - compare the sheer amount of videos we are getting in this crash with zero in that case. Granted, that area isnt as populated but still…

[tandav]

One of the saddest days in Aviation. Whatsapp is full of videos of people tramping all over the accident site and showing charred bodies. The images and visuals of the disaster are too painful to watch: Reminded me of scenes from Pompeii.

I am aghast at the extremely poor perimeter security and crowd control by NDRF and local Police. Shri Vijay Rupani was part of the Passenger manifest floating on many whatsapp groups.

[Ambar]

One of the saddest days in Aviation. Whatsapp is full of videos of people tramping all over the accident site and showing charred bodies. The images and visuals of the disaster are too painful to watch: Reminded me of scenes from Pompeii.

I am aghast at the extremely poor perimeter security and crowd control by NDRF and local Police. Shri Vijay Rupani was part of the Passenger manifest floating on many whatsapp groups.

It is impossible to stop people from shooting videos in the age of smartphones and cheap data especially when such a major incident takes place in the heart of one of the largest cities in the country. That said, i do hope they can get to the FDR and VR without someone damaging them permanently . Watching some of these heartbreaking images of charred bodies and debris everywhere the thing that struck me the most is our absolute lack of fire fighting capability. You have fire trucks hauling water with barely enough pressure to reach the fourth floor of a small building, the water runs out and they have to go back refill.

[bala]

One cannot rule out sabotage by the neighbor next door. This looks eerily like that.

[Sachin]

Shri Vijay Rupani was part of the Passenger manifest floating on many whatsapp groups.

He is now said to be dead, along with other passengers. No one seems to have survived.

[Ambar]

Shri Vijay Rupani was part of the Passenger manifest floating on many whatsapp groups.

He is now said to be dead, along with other passengers. No one seems to have survived.

In what appears to be an absolute miracle there is one confirmed survivor! Not only did he survive but he literally walked away from the crash while talking on his cellphone! Sadly, his brother who was seated in a different row is not yet found and is thought to have perished. It is possible this gentleman was furthest back in the tail section and somehow saved himself from the crash and subsequent fireball.

[Srikanth P]

He was apparently in seat 11A. Not at the back.

[sanjayc]

Passenger on seat 11A survived Air India crash, says trouble started 30 seconds into flight

As relatives of those aboard the Air India flight desperately look for their loved ones at the Civil Hospital, Asarwa in Ahmedabad, on a bed in the general ward lies 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who said he survived the deadly crash.

“Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” Vishwash, who received “impact injuries” on his chest, eyes and feet, told HT.

Vishwash, who still had his boarding pass, told HT, “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... 58509.html

The passenger:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XIigybKrKaE

[bala]

Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed

Certainly a bomb went off.

[saip]

But I read the Pilot declared Mayday and was trying to land.

[SRajesh]

Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed

Certainly a bomb went off.

Saar
you are just speculating.
There is video available on the net from plane taking off from Runway to a fireball.
No smoke or debris off the plane
The plane just gently coasting down from 600 odd feed.
Tail section found intact so the black box would be safe to decode what really happened.

[chetak]

CCTV footage of Ahmedabad-London Air India flight taking off .

It covers the take off and the crash

WATCH VIDEO

[SRajesh]

A question to all brethren:
Should we call it a national disaster
Announcing national mourning!!
Ask Modiji to give G7 a miss
I wonder whether that would avoid all sorts of issue what with DJT going bonkers with his verbal incontinence!!

[Cyrano]

Mourning yes, skipping G7 - let the PM make that call.

[Cyrano]

Tragic event. From nose up to stall, the plane was airborne for hardly 15 secs. And then it fell on the ground while maintaining wings nearly level in the next 10 secs or so. Pilots called mayday, reported loss of thrust. They were not trying to land, they hardly took off.

Loss of thrust in both engines simultaneously when climbing after rotation when max power solicited from both engines is extremely unusual. It's a somewhat old ac that has flown many hundreds of thousands of miles already, so it's not a Boeing design issue. No visible bird hit, explosion, flames or debris until the crash. The lone miraculous survivor reported a loud noise 30 secs after takeoff ie very close to the actual crash time, so what he heard is very likely the crash itself and not en event preceding the crash. Sometimes survivor testimony is hard to evaluate given the sensory overload they have gone through.

So that leaves us with
A) A one in a zillion catastrophic synchronous dual engine failure when max thrust solicited
B ) A maintenance error on some fuel piping supplying both engines (like a forgotten tool) leading to a blockage that cut off fuel to both engines at once after nose up
C) Pilot error (which raises a whole bunch of questions)
D) Sabotage leading to an event like B ) above

Hopefully the FDRs are recovered and will tell us more.

Om Shanti to all those who lost their lives in this tragedy.

[vera_k]

Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed

Certainly a bomb went off.

Other possibilities too if thinking of a terrorism connection. Like intentional maintenance malpractice or software hacking.
All will be looked at.
There is a TV show called Air Disasters that goes into some technical detail on the causes of prior tragedies.

[Aldonkar]

Certainly a bomb went off.

Other possibilities too if thinking of a terrorism connection. Like intentional maintenance malpractice or software hacking.
All will be looked at.
There is a TV show called Air Disasters that goes into some technical detail on the causes of prior tragedies.

There is a lot of interest in the UK since there is a large Indian community here with Gujeratis forming a large sector of that. The BBC has just reported that the sole survivor lives in Leicester (in the English East Midlands) where there is a large Gujerati community, many with East African roots. I have not seen the report but my wife has seen it and just mentioned it.

It is too early to say that it is a bomb; let us wait for the black box. I hope all Indian airlines are applying extra vigilance on the ground due to Op Sindoor and the potential "fifth column".

[Tanaji]

There wasn’t a bomb. There are 2 separate cctv videos of the crash- none show an explosion.

The plant simply lost thrust to both engines and the pilots did incredibly well to glide it down as they did - notice they were nose up at the last moment, fighting till the end.

[bala]

Bomb is generic usage of term. It could be big or tiny. Anything that can be triggered remotely/timed with explosives. The israelis had exploding cell phones, a tiny explosive triggered remotely. If thrust was lost then the cables supplying commands could have had something triggered. Sabotage cannot be ruled out. This thing about maintenance, etc is red herring. Recently we had ships targeted and now a plane lost with passengers.

[Cyrano]

3 points floating around :
1. Flaps setting given 37°C temp. Hard to discern from videos what was set. 0 or 5 or 10° . Hot weather reduces air density hence less lift, needs greater take off speed before rotation. 787 has an alarm if flaps left at 0
2. Gear down after take off - not clear how this contributed to the crash, it definitely increases drag but leading to stall right after takeoff doesn't seem plausible in this case. As a passenger I've experienced gear retracts on various similar ac much later than this flight was airborne. Needs hydraulics to work, which in turn needs engines to work normally.
3. Loss of thrust - both engines simultaneously remains a mystery. The videos are a bit low res, one can see a bit of dust spinning up behind the hot engine exhaust at the moment of take off and distortion due to refractive index change (mirage effect). A high resolution video can help determine at what moments thrust decreased and stopped based on hot exhaust decrease and consequent decrease of the mirage effect behind the engine/s. Not sure if any security cameras picked this up correctly - they aren't designed or set up for this.

[gakakkad]

I don't think we should float around CTs yet . But yeah ,if this was something other than an accident .........

[Amber G.]

There was a tweet from the 'inventor of hotmail' (Sabeer Bhatia) which some of us thought as vile as some of RaGa's stamens ..

Do you really think the 4th largest economy in the world should still be having plane crashes due to systemic failures? Time to question what truly makes a nation great.

(It seems that X has put community note or blocked the tweet.. due to community)

[Cyrano]

Bomb is generic usage of term. It could be big or tiny. Anything that can be triggered remotely/timed with explosives. The israelis had exploding cell phones, a tiny explosive triggered remotely. If thrust was lost then the cables supplying commands could have had something triggered. Sabotage cannot be ruled out. This thing about maintenance, etc is red herring. Recently we had ships targeted and now a plane lost with passengers.

Bala saar, please stop posting baseless BS. Anything is possible, but that doesn't mean I can start saying the pilot was a sleeper agent for instance. It's not fair on our security agencies and not respectful of families of the deceased....

[Cyrano]

Please don't relay shithead comments of Suswas and hotmail bhatias of the world. Only satisfies their desperation to exist.

[Amber G.]

Air India statement on Ahmedabad plane crash:

Air India confirms that flight AI171, operating from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick on 12 June 2025, was involved in an accident.

The 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew.

The aircraft crashed shortly after take-off. We regret to inform that, of the 242 aboard, there are 241 confirmed fatalities. The sole survivor is being treated in a hospital.

The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The survivor is a British national of Indian origin.

Air India offers its deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. Our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of all those affected, their families and loved ones.

A team of caregivers from Air India is now in Ahmedabad to provide additional support. Air India is giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident.

Air India has also set up a dedicated passenger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information. Those calling from outside India can call on +91 8062779200.

[Vayutuvan]

Other possibilities too if thinking of a terrorism connection. Like intentional maintenance malpractice or software hacking.
All will be looked at.

Plain old sabotage by somebody who infiltrated ground staff/maintenance crew. Till recently Turkish company was doing ground operations weren't they? When the company was kicked out last month, some ideological folks of that company might have taken employment with Ahmedabad Intl Airport.

But as @cyrano gaaru and @gakkad ji said, yes, let us wait for the FDR data and CVR sound to be analyzed.

[Vayutuvan]

He was apparently in seat 11A. Not at the back.

Is that row with emergency exit?

[Vayutuvan]

There was a tweet from the 'inventor of hotmail' (Sabeer Bhatia)

BITS, Pilani graduate. Probably elitist now that he sold hotmail for $450 million to MS back in the day when that was huge money.

[S_Madhukar]

While not the real reason can’t believe how packed the area around the airport is. We really need to stop such constructions around airports thinking of them as bus depot and not as a potential fire risk. I have thought of Heathrow as being ridiculously close to a city but it is far emptier on the sides compared to some of our airports.

[vera_k]

Read comment elsewhere about 787 being the first airplane to have lithium ion batteries, and were previously susceptible to thermal runaway.
Yet another thing to rule out.
2013 Boeing 787 Dreamliner grounding

[S_Madhukar]

There was a tweet from the 'inventor of hotmail' (Sabeer Bhatia)

BITS, Pilani graduate. Probably elitist now that he sold hotmail for $450 million to MS back in the day when that was huge money.

Looks like he may be another Club Epstein or Sorrows member.

[Vayutuvan]

While not the real reason can’t believe how packed the area around the airport is. We really need to stop such constructions around airports thinking of them as bus depot and not as a potential fire risk. I have thought of Heathrow as being ridiculously close to a city but it is far emptier on the sides compared to some of our airports.

Problem is as soon as an Airport comes up (or even long before, as soon as the site is confirmed), huge amount of residential buildings get built. For example, RGIA, Shamsabad. It is pretty far from the twin cities yet a lot of residential development had happened. Ag University, Rajendra Nagar used to be very far from the city in the 80s and 90s. It had a lot open spaces. But now it is jam packed. There was no real urban planning in India. Same continues to date.

Take the case of Hinjewadi, Pune. The whole area got flooded during early onset monsoon. That is the place where all the IT companies are. Our company too.

AN Intl Airport was to come up somewhere close to Hinjewadi. But now there is no space there. Pune has to make do with sharing the airport with IAF.

[Tanaji]

Cyranoji, the flaps angle is also unlikely. As you said, the 787 will alarm loudly if they are not set the moment it starts rolling on the runway. Plus it has an electronic checklist which will compare against current setting. The captain had 8000 hours of experience- he won’t make a mistake of 5-10 flap setting.

Another theory put out was they used 6000 feet of runway rather than 9000 that is required for a fully laden plane - but that was ruled out as well.

One angle could be aircraft was grossly overloaded - again unlikely in this day and age. The thrust theory is the only one that makes sense - loss of power led to stall and crashed. Some people have said that the Ram Air Turbine was engaged which would suggest power loss…

Let’s hope they recover the FDR and CvR asap.