Plane May Not Have Achieved Optimum Take-Off Speed Due To Bird Hit: Experts

New Delhi:

A bird hit may have prevented the Air India flight, which crashed near Ahmedabad airport, from achieving the optimum speed for take-off, leading to the crash, experts have told NDTV.

Air India flight 171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick airport in London crashed around 1.30 pm on Thursday, shortly after taking off. There were 242 people on board – 230 passengers, 10 crew members and two pilots – the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

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.”

“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,” he stressed.

Aviation expert Sanjay Lazar agreed. 

“That would explain why the aircraft did not have the power to lift. If there were multiple bird hits on take-off, it probably could not have gone beyond the 6-7 minute threshold and started falling. Let’s also remember it’s a reasonably new aircraft, it’s only 11 years old, so it’s not like it had technical issues,” Mr Lazar said.

“This is a residential area beyond the airport. Possibly, there were birds in the area. Let’s wait for more details to come out, but this is probably one of the key factors involved,” he added.

The plane had 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, a Canadian and 7 Portuguese on board. Air India has also set up a dedicated hotline number: 1800 5691 444.