Air India 787 Crashes

This video of the crash is terrifyingly clear.

Real News, Not Bullshit on Instagram: "World News: An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 people has crashed in Ahmedabad, India, killing everyone on board except one. According to Indian authorities, the Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:38 p.m. local time. Just seconds into its flight to London, the aircraft issued a Mayday call and lost altitude before crashing into a medical college. The impact destroyed a dining facility where students were gathered for lunch, resulting in additional casualties on the ground. The aircraft, registered as VT-ANB, was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that first flew in December 2013 and had been delivered to Air India in January 2014, making it over 11 years old. Until this incident, the Dreamliner model had never been involved in a fatal crash. The flight carried a total of 242 people, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, 7 Portuguese, and 1 Canadian. Remarkably, only one person is confirmed to have survived the crash: Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national in his 40s who was in India visiting family. Ramesh had been seated in seat 11A, a left-side window seat. His brother, who was seated next to him, did not survive. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident “heartbreaking beyond words” in a statement posted on social media, offering condolences to the victims’ families. Updates below 8:15 AM PDT: 290 dead (number includes people in the school)."

 

I'm withholding any judgment until the black boxes (the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder) are analyzed. My assumption is that they both survived the crash and if they have not already been recovered will be covered in short order.

 

RIP to those poor people and families. Horrible tragedy. Lots of folks on the ground have been killed as well.

As an aviation fan is very disturbing and sad. Rumors of the RAT being deployed would imply dual engine failure during or shortly after takeoff. This looks like a non recoverable event.

1k 787 built over 18 years and this is the first crash. I hope the investigation goes deep to find the real cause of it.

 

This is every travelers nightmare. It must have been very terrifying for a short time. I feel for the ones who were lost and their families.

 

For clarity, my assumptions comments were his words in response to my question to him. Not, me to you. In not so many words, he told me to shut up and wait for the experts to actually go learn things.

 

ha. Everyone can have an opinion. Where brakes need to be tapped is when news services are ‘telling’ what happened.JMHO

 

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.

 

One person has survived.

 

This is why it's a miracle. Of all the passengers on that flight, he should have died. An expert talked about it on CNN yesterday that where he sat over the wing near the exit row, he should not have survived. The survivor said that he thought he was going to die and when it was over, he was still alive and he unbuckled his seat and kicked out the hole in the cabin and climbed out. Everyone around him were either charred husks or were dying. He tried to help people on the ground. God has something special in store for him, hopefully he takes hold of it.

 

I couldn't read the rest of it. Hard to see that last picture of them smiling and preparing for a new life. There's another story of a mom who said goodbye to her only child, a 19 year old headed to college in London and now having to give her DNA. Going to hear many stories like these. Just can't do it.

 

Thanks for posting. first if heard of the RAT being deployed. If the boxes didn’t perish the answers should be pretty quick. Whether or not they release them is another story.

 

Yeah sure looks like based on what the Pilot mayday'd and the video, complete loss of thrust that close to the ground is unrecoverable.

I know some have mentioned the flaps, but even with all the flaps up on takeoff, with two functioning engines and a full load they should have no problem gaining altitude in a 787.

 

Pretty unmistakable sound of the RAT in this clip (watch at own risk)

This seems to point to dual flameout at the worst possible moment. Apparently there was also a mayday call from the pilot saying "no thrust, not enough lift".

I also saw a CCTV clip from the airport. The plane used every last inch of runway, kicking up a dust cloud as it finally pulled up. I suspect whatever went wrong was already going wrong before liftoff. No visual evidence of a bird strike in the video either. Perhaps a fuel problem?

 

A good summary from an aviation perspective of what we know and what it could mean.

First Boeing 787 Crash: ALG Investigating the Tragedy of Air India Flight 171

 

The Air Accidents Investigations Branch in the UK is second to none in the world when it comes to investigating these accidents. Along with the NTSB, who will also take part in the investigation, we can be certain that the best of best will get to root cause if at all possible.

Thanks for the link.

 

I saw that video yesterday but nothing caught my ear as I have no idea what the RAT sounds like. Is it the sound in the first second or two of the video?

 

Both Black Boxes recovered today.

Should have a lot more info within a week or two.

 

To reiterate I do not fly currently, nor am I type rated in the 787. In my aircraft, You can silence the aural alarm and press the flashing red light and make it just a red light they stays on, but that would truly be suicidal by both crew members. Just not likely.

my opinion on flaps was based on initial reports that gear was down and the flaps were up. I have seen nothing that indicates that was the actual configuration.

I still stand by the opinion that if the flaps were indeed retracted right at rotation speed that could be catastrophic, especially on a hot summer day in India. The aircraft would need to be operating at a significantly higher speed to generate enough lift to climb out. For example. When we practice a zero flap landing, our landing speeds are 50 to 60 kts faster than a normal landing.

as far a simultaneous engine failure right at rotation speed I cannot think off any accident I have studied that had that happen. The engines on the 787 are significantly larger than sully’s plane and can inject some bird and still function. Can’t imagine what would cause both to fail.