Air India Flight AI171 crashes seconds after takeoff

[Retro]

This awful crash of Air India flight AI171 happened today with 242 people on board and only one survivor. It took off from Ahmedabad, western India.

Looking at the footage, it looks like it must have lost complete engine power just after it took off, so gained barely any height before it began to sink. The why of this we'll know in time.

Footage of the whole flight starts at 14 seconds. Looking at the footage of the destruction, I wonder how it managed to destroy buildings so far apart. When these things go up, it's like a bomb has gone off.

So many thousands of people, directly and indirectly have been affected by this crash.

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Latest updates:

Air India crash latest: At least 200 killed in Air India plane crash as one British passenger reportedly survives

The plane carrying 242 people, including 169 Indian nationals and 53 Britons, hit a residential area, with some on the ground also feared dead.

www.bbc.co.uk

Unfortunately, this accident is bad enough to make Air Crash Investigation.

Mayday - Alarm im Cockpit (TV Series 2003– ) ⭐ 8.8 | Documentary, Crime, History

45m | TV-14

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[AllThingsTech]

Wow this is really sad This must be particularly traumatic for loved ones of the victims, and not least because of the delays in the release of the bodies, resulting from long queues with families ready to hand over DNA samples.

Plane crashes with modern planes typically have all passengers as survivors, or occasionally no survivors if the accident was severe; however, rarely do you get one survivor! How lucky!

A lady 10 minutes late for that flight sooek to the news - imagine the stress of missing the flight, and it’s a blessing in disguise that she missed said flight!

 

[Hitcore]

Imagine being that sole survivor. Or that lady who was 10 minutes late. Those are some of the surrealest things people can experience.

Plane crashes have huge impact, though it must be said that statistically flying is a lot safer than driving. But if a plane goes down, the event is a lot bigger and more dramatic.

 

[Retro]

Oh yeah, I'll bet those two have kissed the ground with relief. Imagine the rising sense of panic by the pilots as the plane continued to inexorably sink towards the ground while they struggled with the controls. The passengers too of course, depending on their awareness level of what was going on.

Thing is, we only hear about the major accidents on the news, like this one - and this one is about as major as it gets, which gives people the impression that if anything goes wrong in a plane, then you're doomed, but not so, very far from it, actually. Ones like this, are a really tiny fraction of all the thousands of journeys made in a year, way less than 1%, maybe 0.01% or something like that.

It turns out that there are lots of accidents and incidences in a year, some of which could be serious, but all the safety systems, staff training and protocols kick in to keep everyone safe, even if the plane is damaged. To see about those, you have to look at aviation websites and magazines. There's at least one monthly mag which lists all the incidences in the previous month, as they're all officially recorded.

 

[Retro]

Continuing the flight safety discussion, while I would go up in one of those big jets no problem, even after this, I wouldn't do so in a small single or twin engine propeller plane as there are much fewer safeties there. Even then however, some of the bigger twin engine props have great safety records, so maybe, but I'd still be reluctant. They tend to do short hops, so a car taxi might be possible. One has to be smart about these things.

 

[Retro]

The thoughts of this retired pilot are worth hearing. He reckons that the problem actually happened just seconds before take off, or V1, so the pilots had the choice of either crashing at the end of the runway, or getting into the air and seeing if there was some way to manage the situatuon. Looks like the ram air turbine (RAT) was deployed, which only happens when there's total loss of electrical power. Disastrous during this phase of flight.

Given this, it's plausible that the aircraft actually lost power just before V1, forcing a take off. At that point, it's got the speed and momentum to get off the ground, but without engine power it will then slow down, hence lose lift and sink, just as the world saw. Notice how the plane was flared just before the crash. The pilots would do this to try and increase lift to try and lesson the impact. What a horrible situation they and the passengers all faced. RIP.

We will know what happened for sure eventually and this explanation might be wrong. We just gotta wait.

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[AllThingsTech]

The thoughts of this retired pilot are worth hearing. He reckons that the problem actually happened just seconds before take off, or V1, so the pilots had the choice of either crashing at the end of the runway, or getting into the air and seeing if there was some way to manage the situatuon. Looks like the ram air turbine (RAT) was deployed, which only happens when there's total loss of electrical power. Disastrous during this phase of flight.

Given this, it's plausible that the aircraft actually lost power just before V1, forcing a take off. At that point, it's got the speed and momentum to get off the ground, but without engine power it will then slow down, hence lose lift and sink, just as the world saw. Notice how the plane was flared just before the crash. The pilots would do this to try and increase lift to try and lesson the impact. What a horrible situation they and the passengers all faced. RIP.

We will know what happened for sure eventually and this explanation might be wrong. We just gotta wait.

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Wasn’t it negligent to take off under this scenario instead of crashing end of runway?

 

[Retro]

No, that's what V1 is, the point of no return, as I've explained.

 

[AllThingsTech]

No, that's what V1 is, the point of no return, as I've explained.

Sorry post edited! It was clear the plane wouldn’t last long in the air!

Also find it crazy that you can’t just break at that point Thanks for sharing this!

 

[Retro]

I guess if the runway was long enough it might be possible, but the length might need to double, perhaps. Certainly, the brakes and undercarriage would be damaged if they did an emergency stop at take off speed, even with engine reversers deployed. Small price to pay for safety in my opinion though. I can only think that they don't do it as it doesn't satisfy the cost-benefit equation and would take a lot more physical real estate to do.

Little planes like one or two propeller types with short take offs could easily stop at V1 as there's plenty of runway.

 

[AllThingsTech]

It’s clear that the benefits of breaking outweigh the costs when ~250 lives are saved!

Then again, when I’m in the car of a rough driver and they break abruptly, we often get hurt, and imagine a plane breaking at take-off speed - doesn’t sound safe, to say the least!

 

[AllThingsTech]

OMG you guys realise the plane crashed into a building used as accommodation for doctors at a medical college and civil hospital? So, not only have we lost those involved in the plane crash, but also doctors who have so much good to offer

Air India plane crash death toll rises to 270

Dr Dhaval Gameti said 270 bodies have been recovered from the site of Thursday's plane crash in Ahmedabad.

www.bbc.co.uk

Death toll has risen to 270