Air India 787 Crash in Ahmedabad Leaves at Least 270 Dead, Investigation Underway

Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images

Last Thursday, Air India Flight 171 crashed into a medical college hostel in a residential area, killing at least 240 people on the flight and 30 more on the ground.

The 787-8, registration VT-ANB, was 11.5 years old at the end of its life. The aircraft was flown by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kundar, with Sumeet having over 22 years of experience and 8000 hours of flight time.

Currently, investigations show that there were 242 people onboard the flight from Ahmedabad Airport (AMD) in India to London Gatwick Airport (LHR). Unfortunately, only one person was able to make it out of the fiery crash, making this accident one of India’s deadliest plane crashes.

According to Flightradar24, the Air India flight took off at 13:39 local time with about 100 tonnes of fuel (almost a full load) as it struggled to climb out of Ahmedabad. The final transmitted data showed that the plane reached a maximum height of 625 feet before descending and crashing into a residential area.

A video, recorded by a planespotter, captures the Air India 787 struggling to gain altitude shortly after takeoff. The aircraft appears to pitch up sluggishly while losing altitude rapidly—a clear indication that the plane may have entered an aerodynamic stall. This led to most people speculating that the plane’s engines were non-responsive, which may have caused the engines to fail to produce sufficient thrust. From the last ATC transmission, it transmits the pilot’s last chilling words, “Thrust not achieved... falling... Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!”