‘Something horrible': Experts analyse Air India crash

News.com.au

13-06-2025

A plane disaster that killed hundreds of people in India has shocked the aviation world as experts try to process how it unfolded.
Air India Flight 171 crashed into a residential area within seconds of lift-off at Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 on board and others at the crash site.
One passenger miraculously survived after boarding the flight bound for London's Gatwick Airport on Thursday, as speculation mounts over what caused the tragedy.
Keith Tonkin, an aviation consultant, told news.com.au that although the cause was not yet clear, it was obvious that 'something horrible has happened'.
'Whether it's to do with the engines or some other, equipment on the aircraft, it's not really obvious at the moment,' he said.
'The fact that the landing gear was left down tells me that they either did that deliberately or for some reason, didn't have enough time to think of doing that when they probably should have.
'And that could mean that they had other things that they were dealing with at the time.
'So there's a little, little moment in time somewhere between taking off and somewhere in that very short climb out where something horrible is happening that the pilots weren't able to manage.'
Mr Tonkin said the short time frame between take off and the crash was 'very unusual' compared to other air disasters.
'Because it's so close to this time start of the flight,' he said.
'Normally, you have an opportunity when you're taking an aircraft off to stop if it's not working properly.
'And so the pilots have got to a point where they just sort of continue that take off. And very shortly after that, the aircraft has stopped operating as you'd expect it to.
'So everything has been compressed into a very short time frame that you would not normally see.'
Peter Carter, an aviation lawyer, said it did not appear to be an engine failure but was 'likely a case of aircraft configuration and the physics of airspeed, lift and drag'.
'The first thing that needs to be determined is whether the pilot chose an intersection departure rather than backtracking on the runway to make use of its full length of 3,500m.
He said Flight Radar 24 appeared to show the aircraft did not backtrack to use the full length of the runway, which could have meant 'it did not have sufficient speed to safely 'rotate' and lift off by the time it arrived at the runway's end'.
But, he added, it was possible this was an error by the flight tracking software.
'It also appears from the video that the landing gear was still in the 'down' position at a height it would normally be retracted so as to reduce drag and assist the aircraft's climb.
'And from the video it's unclear whether the flaps were in the takeoff position as they were required to be, so as to increase the lift on the wings during the initial climb.'
Chrystal Zhang, from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said that based on the footage she did not believe the crash was caused by a bird strike – as has been speculated.
'There are some facts that perhaps we cannot deny,' she said.
'The weather is clear, so it's good for takeoff. There is nothing hindering the aircraft from taking off.
'So weather wise, perhaps, is being ruled out at this stage.
'So in that case, the focus is really to understand how the pilots are operating and whether there are any other issues.'
Although global air safety records are improving, Ms Zhang said some countries were still catching up.
'There has been some report saying that the air safety record in India had been experiencing issues and problems,' she said.
'In particular with increasing demand with the increase of the middle class and also the emergence of the low-cost carriers.'
Tourism expert David Beirman said it was important to put the incident into context, saying, 'air travel statistically is probably the safest way to travel anywhere in the world'.
'So when you have an air crash off of the scale that that happened last night, it becomes big news because it is very rare that that such a such an incident occurs,' he said.
'From everything that's been said so far, it seems to have been a mechanical problem in the plane, which is very, very rare.
'The pilot was incredibly experienced, so I think it had 8000 hours or something.'
Dr Beirman said it was a 'terrible tragedy' but a 'very unusual' incident.
'So I don't think it actually compromises the safety of the air travel as a whole, but it certainly will be a big question for Air India, who I'm sure will be investigating this one very carefully.'