An aviation expert and YouTuber who analyses plane crashes thinks the co-pilot on the Air India flight AI171 made an exceptionally simple error in the cockpit when he was asked to retract the landing gear. The London-bound 787 Dreamliner tragedy, which killed 241 people on board on Thursday, began losing height moments after take-off and crashed over a residential area in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Commercial airline pilot and YouTuber Captain Steve said the co-pilot might have pulled the plane’s wing flaps instead of retracting the landing gear.
He said: “Here’s what I think happened, again, folks, this is just my opinion. I think the pilot flying said to the co-pilot said ‘gear up’ at the appropriate time. I think the co-pilot grabbed the flap handle and raised the flaps, instead of the gear. If that happened, this explains a lot of why this airplane stopped flying.”
The premature pulling of the wing flaps would have caused the wings to lose lift. At the same time, the landing gear – still deployed – would have created significant drag. Without sufficient power to overcome that drag, the aircraft would struggle to maintain altitude.
Steve believes this theory is supported by visual evidence. Typically, the composite wings of the Boeing 787 bend during takeoff as lift forces take it into the air. However, in footage captured just moments before the crash, the wings of the Air India aircraft appear unusually flat, suggesting the flaps, which play a critical role in generating lift during takeoff, may have been accidentally retracted.
He added: “Had they been at a higher altitude they could have dropped the nose and gain some speed, they might have flown out of it, but there, but they are at about 300 feet when all that takes place and they simply didn’t have the altitude.”
The real reason behind the incident remains unknown; other theories include potential engine failure, runway miscalculation, and a bird strike. Investigators will only know conclusively what happened once they have found and analysed both of the plane’s black boxes. One of these was recovered on Friday morning among the wreckage, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation will now study the recordings.
Among those believed to have died is Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the Boeing 787 pilot who had 8,200 hours of experience. First Officer Clive Kunder from Mumbai was the co-pilot. He had logged 1,100 flying hours and completed his training at the Florida-based Paris Air Flight School.
Captain Steve acknowledged that, while both pilots were experienced professionals, human error can happen.
