A pilot has revealed a possible cause of the Air India crash which killed all 242 people on board, includuding 53 Brits. The plane was bound for London Gatwick but went down right after taking off at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Police have now confirmed that there were no survivors after the aircraft crashed into a residential area. The plane only achieved a height of 672 feet when it began to plummet.
There were 230 passengers, 10 crew members and two pilots on the flight. The cause of the crash is yet to be confirmed by authorities but experts have shared their theories on what may have caused the plane to go down. Before it crashed, the plane’s pilot issued a mayday and said that the aircraft was experiencing engine failure. However, the cause of that engine failure has not yet been confirmed.
One expert has told NDTV, a New Delhi TV station, that the crash may have been caused by a bird strike which might have prevented the plane from achieving optimum speed for take off.
Captain Saurabh Bhatnagar, former senior pilot, said: “It looks, prima facie, like a case of multiple bird hits wherein both the engines have lost power. The take-off was perfect and just, I believe, short of taking the gear up, the aircraft started descending, which can happen only in case the engine loses power or the aircraft stops developing lift. Obviously, the investigation will reveal the exact reason.”
He added: “From the footage, it seems that the take-off was uneventful. The aircraft came down in a controlled fashion. The pilot had given the Mayday call, which means that it was a distress situation.”
Videos have shown the plane struggling to gain altitude before it went down. We then see the plane crash-land and erupt into a ball of fire.
Dozens of medical students have been injured after the plane crashed into a built-up area, The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) revealed. The plane crashed into a hostel for doctors training at a local medical college.
Contact with the aircraft was lost at 10.08am local time when it was at an altitude of 625 feet. A senior police officer in Ahmedabad, Gujarat said: “Preliminary, we came to know that an Air India flight bound to London has crashed at the doctors’ hostel. Within 2-3 minutes, police and other agencies reached the spot. Almost 70-80 % of the area has been cleaned.”