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The Air India flight was unable to gain hardly any altitude before crashing into the residential quarters of a medical college in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area
The Air India flight crashed shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on June 12. (Image: News18/video grab)
Fresh CCTV footage from the Ahmedabad shows that the Air India flight that crashed on Thursday, was airborne only for 30 seconds and was unable to gain hardly any altitude before crashing into the residential quarters of a medical college in Meghaninagar.
In the video, it can be seen that the flight takes off from the runway, then rapidly drops, and crashes. While the crash cannot be seen, the resulting explosion and a cloud of smoke make for chilling visuals.
Immediately after departure from runway 23, the aircraft fell onto the ground outside the airport perimeter. Eyewitnesses also reported heavy black smoke at the accident site.
Watch the video here:
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The aircraft, which departed from Ahmedabad at 1339 hours IST from runway 23, gave a ‘mayday’ call to the ATC, but there was no response from the aircraft to the calls made by ATC. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said a team was rushed to the spot for investigation.
“On 12th Jun, 2025, Air India B787 Aircraft VT-ANB, while operating flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, has crashed immediately after takeoff from Ahmedabad. There were 242 people on board the aircraft, consisting of 2 pilots and 10 cabin crew,” said a senior DGCA official.
More than 200 people were killed in the plane crash. The London-bound flight was carrying 242 people, including 230 passengers and 12 crew members.
WHAT ARE EXPERTS SAYING?
According to experts, the failure of both engines or a bird hit soon after takeoff could be among the probable causes that led to the fatal crash.
Three senior wide-body pilots, who are also instructors, told PTI that videos of the crash indicate that the engines could not gain the required thrust needed for the takeoff. This could be the reason why the plane fails to gain hardly any height before it starts dropping.
One expert said it does not seem to be the case of one engine failure because in such a scenario, the aircraft would have been swinging but here, the aircraft was steady.
“So, there is the possibility of both the engines failing… there could have been a loss of thrust in both engines. But these are only possibilities,” the commander said, adding that looking at the images, it appears that either the flaps were up or landing gear was down at the time of takeoff.
The second expert said the way the aircraft went down indicated that there was a lack of thrust in both the engines. “This could happen if both engines had flameout due to a bird hit,” he said.
The third expert said both engines might have lost power. One engine might have failed and possibly due to the landing gear not being retracted after takeoff, the second engine might not have had adequate power.
The specific reasons for the crash of the Boeing 787-8 aircraft flying from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick will be known only after the completion of the detailed probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d…Read More
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d… Read More
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