Experts Examine What Could Have Gone Wrong

The Boeing 787 aircraft that crashed soon after taking off—it spent all of 33 seconds in the air—from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport has left the aviation industry stunned, with experts examining what could have gone wrong with the 11-year-old aircraft carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew.

- Neha LM Tripathi

NEW DELHI:

Video evidence from a surveillance camera at the airport showing the aircraft's final moments provides some crucial clues about the accident sequence. It reveals the plane following a normal take-off trajectory before suddenly losing its ability to climb. Moments later, it slowly descends into the horizon and erupts into a ball of fire.

According to officials aware of the matter, a Mayday call was issued by the pilots shortly after take-off.

HT spoke to multiple experts on the possible scenarios that may have unfolded in the moments before the crash and while each of them cautioned that early clues were insufficient to draw conclusions, they agreed that the profile of the flight in its final moments—maintaining a nose-up attitude while descending—was consistent with sudden, severe power loss.

"A B787 aircraft has extremely powerful engines. It is hard to guess what went wrong. It looks like the pilot could not get adequate thrust and realized the issue immediately after take-off," said Amit Singh, aviation safety expert and founder of Safety Matters Foundation.

What led the plane to lose power would likely be at the center of the investigation, said another expert. "While nothing can be said by merely looking at the video, it could be possible that the crash was because both engines stalled. Investigations will reveal what led to the situation," said Sam Thomas, president of the Airline Pilots Association of India (ALPA). That's an extremely rare event on a 787, with a probability of 1 in a billion flying hours.