Six chilling theories have emerged after an Air India plane crashed seconds after take-off.
Flight AI171 departed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:38PM local time. But just moments into the journey, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder issued a mayday call.
The aircraft had only reached an altitude of 625 feet before it suddenly lost power and plummeted into a hostel building at BJ Medical College in Meghani Nagar.
The crash claimed the lives of 241 out of the 242 people on board. The sole survivor was a British passenger seated in 11A. Dozens more fatalities occurred on the ground, with others left in a critical condition, per Sky News.
Now, with the aircraft’s black boxes recovered, aviation experts are zeroing in on potential causes, ranging from catastrophic bird strikes to technical failures, pilot error, and even extreme heat.
A Bird Strike CatastropheIt might sound like a freak accident, but history shows birds can bring down a plane. Captain C.S. Randhawa, a 15-year veteran on the Boeing 777, called it “the most probable” cause.
"Both Ahmedabad and Agra airports are full of birds. Incidents of aircraft being hit by birds keep happening on and off," he told The New Indian Express, cited by The Sun.
The Airport in Ahmedabad has a documented bird hazard issue. A 2018 study flagged it as a hotbed for bird-aircraft collisions. Captain Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation safety consultant, added: "Bird hit appears to be the reason as of now."
And according to him, slaughterhouses near the airport, allegedly owned by powerful political figures, are attracting massive bird populations.
“They are never relocated by the authorities because they are owned by politicians or their relatives,” he said.
Wing flap positionVideo footage suggests the wing flaps, key for lift during take-off, may have been fully retracted or barely extended. That, combined with the landing gear never retracting, could have created deadly drag.
Terry Tozer, a former pilot and author, told the BBC: “It's very hard to say from the video for sure, it doesn't look as if the flaps are extended, and that would be a perfectly obvious explanation for an aircraft not completing its take-off correctly."
Marco Chan, a senior lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University, added: “That would point to potential human error if flaps aren’t set correctly, but the resolution of the video is too low to confirm that.”
Human Error in the CockpitThe co-pilot, Clive Kundar, had clocked 1,000 flight hours and made the final mayday call. Captain Sumeet Sabharwa, with over 8,000 hours and instructor credentials, was among Air India’s most seasoned pilots.
Yet, experts note the plane used less than 2,000 meters of runway on a scorching 40°C afternoon, well below the usual 2,500 meters needed for a fully loaded jet.
Given that flap settings are a pilot's responsibility, with multiple checklists to catch errors, some are questioning whether this tragedy was avoidable.
Heat May Have Crushed LiftHot air equals thin air, and thin air means less lift. Taking off under the blazing Indian sun, the fully loaded Dreamliner may have simply struggled to rise.
“No thrust, losing power, unable to lift,” Kundar said in his desperate mayday call. That chilling line paints a picture of a plane battling both gravity and physics.
The Dreamliner has never crashed before, but that spotless record may be under review. While a mechanical failure is still unconfirmed, past issues have raised eyebrows.
One LATAM Airlines Dreamliner experienced a mid-air nosedive in 2023. Boeing was also forced to pay a £1.1 billion (1.4 billion USD) settlement over the 737 MAX disasters, but stood by the 787’s safety.
Still, a whistleblower last year called on Boeing to ground all Dreamliners, though the company denied any faults at the time.
Was the Plane Just Too HeavyCould the aircraft have simply been too heavy to fly? Extreme heat, paired with full fuel tanks and 242 passengers, can push an airliner to its limit.
Though airlines rigorously monitor weight before take-off, the possibility hasn’t been completely ruled out.