An Air India Boeing 787 heading for the UK initially took off but subsequently crashed into a heavily built-up area in Ahmedabad, India.
This accident happened on Thursday, the 12th of June. It involved flight AI-171, departing from Ahmedabad International Airport (VAAH) in India. Its destination was London Gatwick Airport (EGKK) in the UK.
Air India performs this flight daily, departing Ahmedabad around noon. On this day, the Air India 787 was scheduled to depart at 13:10 local time. Its actual departure time was 13:39, or 08:09 UTC.
According to initial information, there were 232 passengers and 12 crew on board the Air India 787 for this flight. More recent sources report a total of 230 passengers on board: 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, 7 Portuguese and 1 Canadian.
Air India 787 Departure
The aircraft departed using Ahmedabad’s runway 23. Weatherwise, the flight departed into a light headwind, in good visibility conditions, although the high temperatures would impact the aircraft’s takeoff performance:
VAAH 120800Z 25007KT 6000 NSC 37/16 Q1001 NOSIG=
VAAH 120830Z 24003KT 6000 NSC 37/17 Q1000 NOSIG=
As of this writing, available ADS-B information shows the aircraft entering the runway from the northern end of parallel taxiway P at R4.
R4 is about halfway down the runway, with approximately 6,300 feet (1,920 meters) of paved runway remaining for departure. However, it’s important to note that we don’t know if the aircraft actually departed from R4, or if the Air India flight crew backtracked their 787, to depart from elsewhere.
In Flight Radar 24, after the Air India 787 reaches the hold short area, there is only one more datapoint remaining. This point shows the aircraft travelling at 174 knots of ground speed, at a barometric altitude of 625 feet. This is about 400 feet above the ground.
At that moment, the aircraft had a vertical speed of 896 feet per second. Approximately 4 minutes passed between this last datapoint and the previous point, when the aircraft was entering the runway at R4.
Crash
In any case, available video shows the Air India 787 first climbing, then losing altitude as it gets away from the airport. According to available reports, it hit the ground approximately 1.36 nautical miles away from the airport, in an area called Meghani Nagar, close to the Ahmedabad city hospital.
As of this writing, rescue and recovery efforts are still underway at the accident scene while trying to stop the fire from spreading. There are already reports of injuries to people on the ground. Local police report that the building hit by the aircraft is a doctors’ hostel.
The airport closed after the accident, resuming operations at 16:05 local time. The accident aircraft is a 787-8 with registration VT-ANB and has GEnx engines. Air India took delivery of this 787 in January of 2014. Air India has 26 more of these jets, plus another 7 787-9s.
This is the first crash of a Boeing 787, after the type entered service in October 2011. There is still little information as the official investigation gets underway. A video showing the aircraft after departure has emerged on Reddit:
The BBC reported that the flight’s Captain had approximately 8,200 total flight hours, without specifying how many of them were on the 787. The First Officer had about 1,100 flight hours.
This is a developing story. More updates will follow as they become available.
Air India 787 Crash – Updates
Air traffic control authorities confirmed that the Air India flight crew issued a Mayday call shortly after takeoff, but then didn’t respond to ATC calls.
Further information from Flight Radar 24 confirms that the aircraft backtracked and started its takeoff roll from the start of runway 23.
The NTSB will travel to India to take part in the investigation. UK’s AAIB is also sending an investigative team.
The BBC and local media in India confirm that there is at least one survivor in the crash. At least 50 to 60 people on the ground (mostly doctors and medical staff) suffered injuries requiring hospitalization.
Air India has now confirmed that all but one occupant in 787 flight perished in the crash. The sole survivor is in stable condition in hospital. However, the total number of victims is yet to be determined, as authorities still try to account for those present in and around the damaged buildings.
The authorities have started searching for the aircraft’s black boxes.
Sources
https://avherald.com/h?article=528f27ec&opt=0
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/vt-anb#3ac3097f
https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-787-8-vt-anb-air-india/rm97l7
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8d1r3m8z92t?post=asset%3Adb3ec19e-7c9f-4688-89cd-3e0979f3b6c8
6 comments
Paul Carpentier
A newspaper here in Belgium (De Standaard) mentions a single survivor (London resident) in seat 11A, who reported hearing a loud bang about 30 seconds after takeoff, with the plane subsequently crashing. Have not seen this mentioned elsewhere?
Sajid
I saw the video several times. The engines seem to be running fine. What was strange was that the flaps were up and the undercarriage down. In my view, at such a position, it should have been the other way around.
Do you think the pilot could have retracted the flaps instead of the undercarriage? What are the possibilities?
Herman Lopez-Lobaina
The footage seems to show what appears and sounds like the aircraft possibly with clean wings, possibly at max power, possibly using the full length of runway, rotate and climb momentarily, and finally descend in what looks like a stall with a nose up pitch attitude.
Stephen Brotherton
From the footage, you can distinctly hear what would appear to be the ram air turbine running. A bit like a chainsaws! This would collaborate speculations that the engines had lost power very shortly after takeoff. With no AC power, the rat would have automatically deployed, within roughly ten seconds, supplying essential power.
If birds had been ingested, I would have thought you would have seen or heard banging or flames associated with engine stalls!
abby1744
It would appear to me that the wing was not configured for takeoff , the takeoff roll shows no flaps in the takeoff position. With temperature at 37c , and wing not configured for takeoff the plane fell out of the sky.
Ioan Carlos Puicar
Hi Abby, that’s a good hypothesis, byt the aircraft did take off of first place, then it started descending, the aoa indicates a clear stall situation even tough it didn’t drop a wing, maybe it did had the flaps and slats on takeoff but after that thet maybe retracted them? It also feels like it has a loss of power, I guess it didn’t drop a wing because it has some sort of alpha protection or something, I’m no expert bu the way hehe-