The devastating crash of Air India flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad in India on June 12, claimed over 260 lives following an as yet unknown engineering disaster. Air India training pilots have since undertaken simulations to understand what could have caused the plane to crash just seconds after takeoff. Using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner simulator in Mumbai, the pilots recreated various scenarios, including electrical failures and engine flameouts, to explore what might have prevented the aircraft from gaining altitude after takeoff, but this effort was unsuccessful.
The training crew precisely matched the aircraft’s weight and balance using the original flight’s trim sheet, then simulated configurations such as a single engine failure with landing gear still extended and takeoff flaps retracted, conditions known to hamper climb performance. Despite these efforts to mimic possible system failures, the pilots were unable to reproduce the exact conditions that led to the fatal crash.
Using the Boeing 787 simulator, they explored various scenarios that could have taken place, including engine failures and electrical issues to understand why the plane was unable to climb.
The aircraft, however, was still able to gain altitude in the simulator despite having simulated these conditions.
A simultaneous failure of both engines, while rare and difficult to recover from at low altitude, remains one of the main focuses of the investigation, although India’s aviation minister said this would be a ‘rare case’ and that it would be premature to speculate on the cause of the crash.
Data from the plane’s black boxes and other evidence will be crucial in piecing together what happened during the fateful flight.
The upcoming preliminary report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is eagerly awaited, as it could provide crucial insights into this unprecedented crash.
Just over a day after the tragic Air India flight AI-171 crash near Ahmedabad, it was reported that another Air India flight, the AI-187 from Delhi to Vienna, experienced a serious safety incident during takeoff.
The Boeing 777 reportedly lost about 900 feet in altitude shortly after leaving the runway, activating several critical alerts, including stall warnings and “don’t sink” Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) alarms, which are signals indicating a risky loss of lift and altitude.
The plane crashed less than 40 seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad, resulting in the deaths of everyone on board except for one survivor.