Air India: 3 Things Experts Say Might Be the Reason for Fatal Plane Crash That Killed 241 on Board

Air India: 3 Things Experts Say Might Be the Reason for Fatal Plane Crash That Killed 241 on Board

  • After the Air India Flight AI117 crashed in Ahmedabad, many experts who watched the video tried to unravel the cause
  • While the public still awaits the actual cause of the fatal air crash from the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, experts have shared their opinions
  • The opinions shared were purely based on the video, which was shot seconds before the plane crashed

Aviation experts have continued to share their opinions about the Air India plane that crashed and killed 241 people on board.

Many of them took time to analyse the video, which was captured shortly before the plane went down at the BJ Medical College Hostel at Ahmedabad.

Aviation experts share their views on Air India plane crash.
Savino and Mary Schiavo share what they think may have been responsible for the Air India plane crash. Photo credit: Sky News and Aerospace America.
Source: UGC

It should be noted that the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is investigating the cause of the plane crash and has submitted its preliminary report.

However, analysis by aviation experts shed light on the tragedy which threw many families into mourning.

Read also

Air India: Investigators submit report on what led to fatal plane crash that killed 241 on board

Legit.ng presents views expressed by three experts who watched the Air India plane crash video.

Captain Steve suggests possible pilot error occurred

Captain Steve, a pilot who shares aviation information on YouTube, spoke about the Air India plane crash after watching the short video.

In an initial theory that he postulated, Captain Steven said the crash may have been due to a pilot error.

He said the co-pilot may have mistakenly raised the wing flaps instead of retracting the landing gear during takeoff. The landing gear of the aircraft was still out, as could be seen in the video.

His words:

"This explains a lot of why this airplane stopped flying."

However, the official report on the cause of the crash is yet to be made public and what Captain Steven said was merely his opinion.

Mary Schiavo attributes crash to computer error

Read also

Pilot of Air India flight scheduled for Bengaluru to Delhi collapses, rushed to hospital

Another expert who shared her views on the aviation mishap in India is Mary Schiavo, a transportation specialist and a lead attorney at the law firm Motley Rice.

According to Mary, the Air India plane crash may have been caused by computer failure.

Her words:

"I believe this crash was a computer problem. There are several 787 components that rely on computer code to tell the plane whether it is in the air or on the ground. If the computer or code malfunctions, the engines spool back and the thrust is reduced, even if in flight.
"This happened on an ANA (Japan's Air Nippon Airways) 787 flight in 2019, which suffered a dual engine failure on landing, and I'm afraid it could have occurred on the fatal Air India Flight 171."

Captain Laura Savino shares opinion on video

Also speaking on what led to the plane crash, a former pilot, Captain Laura Savino said the flaps were not in the takeoff configuration.

Read also

Air India: Man who flew for 30 hours with airline days after plane crash shares what he noticed while onboard

She said:

"I don't see the flaps in the take-off configuration. The gear is remaining down. Of course, as soon as you have a positive rate, you gonna retract the gear because of the drag. They never retracted the gear, which there is a lot of things you can speculate there.
"At that point in the rotation, they will be bringing the gear up. Did they bring the flap handle up instead? I'm not saying that happened, but it's a possibility."

She also said the video showed that the Boeing Dreamliner may have struggled to generate enough thrust.

She said:

"They used the full length of the runway. It was a full aircraft, it was a very long flight. So, they were probably very heavy on fuel and they used the whole length of the runway. You can see the dust blo'wing off at the end of he runway there as they are finally rotating.

Read also

Air India crash: More mysteries emerge as experts point to one thing that caused tragic accident

"They did initially get a climb, but it was a very shallow climb. They should be going about 15 degrees nose up and it looks like they are struggling to do that. Then the aircraft settled and started to come back down. Did they have a lost of thrust?"
Scene of Air India plane crash.
Air India plane crash kills 241 people on board and many others on the ground in Ahmedabad. Photo credit: Getty Images/Anadolu.
Source: Getty Images

What to know about Air India pilot

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Captain Sumeet Sabharwal was the pilot of the Air India plane that crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad.

The plane, which had 242 people on board, crashed approximately 30 seconds after take-off, killing all passengers except one.

Information about the captain has been made public, as he is said to have extensive experience in flying.

Proofreading by Funmilayo Aremu, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Israel Usulor avatar

Israel Usulor (Human-Interest editor) Israel Usulor is a journalist who has 10 years of experience. He worked at The Prime Newspaper and has published articles in TheCable Newspaper. Israel graduated with distinction from Fidei Polytechnic (Mass Commun, 2016). Israel has interviewed Zannah Mustapha, the man who helped negotiate the release of Chibok Girls, and Kunle Adeyanju, who rode a bike from London to Lagos. He covered exclusive stories on Chef Dami during her Guinness World Records cookathon. Email: israel.usulor@corp.legit.ng.

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