WORLD Air India plane crashes in Ahmedabad; Boeing 787-8 with 242 people on board slams into buildings

[Ban Hammer 14,271]

An Air India passenger plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, soon after departing for London's Gatwick airport, the airline and officials said. A police official told The Associated Press there were no known survivors from the plane, and there were also likely casualties on the ground as the aircraft careened into buildings.

"Air India confirms that flight AI171, from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, was involved in an accident today after take-off," Air India said in a statement posted on social media.

The airline said that the plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, departed at 1:38 p.m. local time carrying 242 people. 

"Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals. The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals," Air India said.

The head of India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, told The Associated Press that flight AI171 crashed five minutes after taking off. 

more at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/air-india-plane-crash-ahmedabad-flight-ai171-to-london-gatwick/
 

[TBoneTX 47,502]

Horrible.  Barring anything else, the stuff with the landing gear & flaps suggests pilot error.

[Boiler 47,460]

Mentour is a good source Judging from what the BBC were saying the flaps were not set, now why and how the take off configuration was not noticed very unclear

[LIBrty4all 3,775]

One survivor, apparently.  Suspect a wrong takeoff flap setting, and perhaps moving the flap handle as opposed to the gear handle.  Tragic errors, obviously.

[LIBrty4all 3,775]

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

Mentour is a good source Judging from what the BBC were saying the flaps were not set, now why and how the take off configuration was not noticed very unclear

Because Boeing doesn't give a warning if the flaps are not in the proper detent, only if they are not in the flaps 5-full setting (normal for takeoff).  Unlike Airbus, which yells at you if the flaps are supposed to be one setting and are in ANY other setting.  Hopefully this forces Boeing to fix this oversight.

[LIBrty4all 3,775]

23 minutes ago, LIBrty4all said:

Because Boeing doesn't give a warning if the flaps are not in the proper detent, only if they are not in the flaps 5-full setting (normal for takeoff).  Unlike Airbus, which yells at you if the flaps are supposed to be one setting and are in ANY other setting.  Hopefully this forces Boeing to fix this oversight.

I said 5-full, meant to say 5-20 is normal for T/O.  My bad.

[Ban Hammer 14,271]

49 minutes ago, LIBrty4all said:

One survivor, apparently.  Suspect a wrong takeoff flap setting, and perhaps moving the flap handle as opposed to the gear handle.  Tragic errors, obviously.

one video i saw of the crash - the narrator pointed out the engines were not very loud......

51 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Mentour is a good source Judging from what the BBC were saying the flaps were not set, now why and how the take off configuration was not noticed very unclear

pilot debrief is another good one.

[LIBrty4all 3,775]

1 minute ago, Ban Hammer said:

one video i saw of the crash - the narrator pointed out the engines were not very loud......

Yeah, but that's kind of irrelevant, without knowing the distance from them, and without knowing what is "normal".  A lot has to do with wind direction.

 

The "bang" described by the survivor is of interest to me.

Edited June 12 by LIBrty4all

[Pooky 3,874]

3 hours ago, Ban Hammer said:

one video i saw of the crash - the narrator pointed out the engines were not very loud......

pilot debrief is another good one.

The big turbofans generally aren’t that loud

 

3 hours ago, LIBrty4all said:

Yeah, but that's kind of irrelevant, without knowing the distance from them, and without knowing what is "normal".  A lot has to do with wind direction.

 

The "bang" described by the survivor is of interest to me.

Have to understand when the bang occurred. I took it to meant first impact with something on the ground.

[Boiler 47,460]

Could be the APU deploying? Or anything for that matter.

 

BBC interviewed an Indian Spokesman and he said there was one foreigner involved, seems vast majority are Gujarati.

[Dashinka 25,850]

Sad situation.  I am in India right now, and there is a lot of speculation locally.  Time will tell, but I tend to agree with @LIBrty4all.

[LIBrty4all 3,775]

43 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Could be the APU deploying? Or anything for that matter.

 

BBC interviewed an Indian Spokesman and he said there was one foreigner involved, seems vast majority are Gujarati.

APU is turned off after last engine is started, typically, unless loads are heavy enough to require FULL power (TOGA), then the APU supplies the air conditioning on takeoff so that engines can produce max thrust for flying.  So APU is unlikely.

Edited June 13 by LIBrty4all

[LIBrty4all 3,775]

 

One of the saddest photos ever taken

Pratik Joshi had been living in London for six years. A software professional, he’d long dreamed of building a life abroad for his wife and three young children, who stayed back in India.

After years of waiting for due clearances, the dream was finally coming true. Just two days ago, his wife, Dr. Komi Vyas, a renowned doctor in Udaipur, resigned from her job. The bags were packed, goodbyes said, the future within reach.

This morning, the family of five, filled with hope and excitement, boarded Air India flight 171 to London. They clicked a selfie. Sent it to relatives. A one-way journey to a new life. But they never made it. The plane crashed. No one survived.

In a matter of moments, a lifetime of dreams turned to ash. A brutal reminder, life is terrifyingly fragile. Everything you build, everything you hope for, everything you love, it all hangs by a thread. So while you can, live, love, and don’t wait for happiness to start tomorrow.

[Boiler 47,460]

One person survived, now how?

[TBoneTX 47,502]

37 minutes ago, Boiler said:

One person survived, now how?

God...