Air India Boeing crash in Ahmedabad: Bird hit, speed issue, engine failure? What experts said of possible reasons

An Air India aircraft with 242 people onboard crashed in the Indian state of Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Thursday (June 12). The incident took place in Meghani area near the Ahmedabad airport, five minutes after take-off. The plane, en route to London, had taken off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1.38 pm IST.

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, according to experts.

The plane was boarded by 242 people, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals.

In a post on X.com, Air India confirmed the crash. “The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 1338 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals,” it said.

“The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals. We have also set up a dedicated passenger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information,” it added.

A former senior pilot, Captain Saurabh Bhatnagar 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 was quoted saying to NDTV.

Meanwhile, aviation expert Sanjay Lazar while talking to NDTV said, “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.”

"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."