Air India Flight AI171 (Boeing 787-8) Crash

I saw the news about this literally after I dropped my mom off at SBA for her to fly to PHX then DTW. She is currently mid air on AA 1728 which is a B738.
 
The whole flight.

** Speculation Only **

If (big if) the flaps were still up, I wonder if they knew immediately there was an issue after lifting off and that’s why the gear never went up/were selected up. They panicked.

Or, was there a bigger system failure here? Maybe they selected flaps for takeoff but they never actually went down and they didn’t catch that. And the gear also wouldn’t come up - like a major hydraulic issue.



Hard to believe a modern jet like the B787 won’t warn pilots if the flaps don’t travel to the full, selected position.
 
Terrible :(

New video posted on X looks as if the RAT was deployed shortly after leaving the ground.
If that’s true, it would explain why the gear was still down but even the worst hydraulics failure wouldn’t cause the flaps to retract prematurely. It would cause them to lock in position ( flaps jammed ).

Power loss?


 
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A plane is basically a tin can with I think the heaviest and densest parts being the motors and hydraulic opponents. You aim that into the ground and it will all disintegrate and get buried into the soil upon impact

Look at the planes that were recently bombed in Siberia by the Ukrainian drones, almost everything burned away on the planes except for the engine blocks and very dense materials.

Yeah - I remember in a material science class, the prof said that most airliners were to scale even thinner than a 12 oz aluminum beverage can. Granted it's not pure aluminum like with beverage cans, so it's structurally stronger.

Obviously a 787 is more carbon fiber, so it's a bit different.
 
It’s not quite that simple -

If you’re referring to the crash in Toulouse, that Airbus was flying slow, deliberately, with an engine out, and was doing a go around with the engine out as part of a test flight.

This airplane was taking off. It doesn’t appear that an engine was out.

My gut feeling is that the crew did not select the correct takeoff flaps, in the social media posts, the wing looks awfully “thin”. For a long range (meaning heavy) takeoff, flaps should be visible.
Someone elsewhere made the same observation and thought maybe initial lift to get off the ground was due to "ground effect" and once they got far enough off the ground lost that extra bit of lift? Not my wheelhouse but interested in your thoughts.
 
>>Some reports say a passenger in seat 11A "walked away"? If so, that is incredible given the video.

looks like they're talking about this very lucky man?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14806301/miracle-escape-survivor-air-india-crash.html

"
....Speaking to local media from his hospital bed, Mr Ramesh said that his brother had been sitting on another row adding 'I can't find him anymore'.

'Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,' he added.

'When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran....."
 
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Could be a takeoff calculation error, but can’t tell because flaps are blurry in videos. It also seemed like they used up all the runway before rotating. If takeoff calculations were right, something bad happened while taking off, and it probably happened after V1. They had no choice but to take off at that point, or risk not being able to stop before the runway ends.

Very sad, sending prayers!
 
Just throwing this out if peeps haven't seen it. It could be nothing; it could be something.

allegedly the airplane involved was having cabin electronics issues on the leg into India.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ens-Air-India-jet-Gatwick-flight-crashed.html

"An Air India passenger has shared a video claiming to show electrical fittings, including air conditioning and TV screens, not working on the jet he was travelling on - just hours before it crashed in a deadly fireball.
Akash Vatsa, who said he was on the plane during its previous flight from Dehli to Ahmedabad, shared video on X showing what he described as 'unusual things in the plane.'
He shared pictures of the plane showing it's registration code - VT-ANB - which appears to match that of the crashed plane......"
 
What are the chances that there was a problem with the takeoff configuration, which the FO noticed but didn't mention to the Captain due to the Air India company culture?
 
What are the chances that there was a problem with the takeoff configuration, which the FO noticed but didn't mention to the Captain due to the Air India company culture?
That is always a possibility. More so in certain cultures, but it can happen everywhere.
 
First time I saw the video @ 5:20 AM today I immediately thought of the flaps.

Very unfortunate accident that could have been prevented.
 
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Just throwing this out if peeps haven't seen it. It could be nothing; it could be something.

allegedly the airplane involved was having cabin electronics issues on the leg into India.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ens-Air-India-jet-Gatwick-flight-crashed.html

"An Air India passenger has shared a video claiming to show electrical fittings, including air conditioning and TV screens, not working on the jet he was travelling on - just hours before it crashed in a deadly fireball.
Akash Vatsa, who said he was on the plane during its previous flight from Dehli to Ahmedabad, shared video on X showing what he described as 'unusual things in the plane.'
He shared pictures of the plane showing it's registration code - VT-ANB - which appears to match that of the crashed plane......"
From the interwebs:

Taking to social media, PIB clarified that the viral clip was from the Yeti Airlines crash near Pokhara, Nepal, which took place on January 15, 2023. The incident involved an ATR 72 aircraft that crashed while attempting to land, killing all 72 people on board.9 hours ago
 
Could be a takeoff calculation error, but can’t tell because flaps are blurry in videos. It also seemed like they used up all the runway before rotating. If takeoff calculations were right, something bad happened while taking off, and it probably happened after V1. They had no choice but to take off at that point, or risk not being able to stop before the runway ends.

Very sad, sending prayers!

They didn't use the entire runway. Turned at the end of the taxiway rather than go to the end for a 180.

2025-06-12-india-crash-index-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg
 
From the interwebs:

Taking to social media, PIB clarified that the viral clip was from the Yeti Airlines crash near Pokhara, Nepal, which took place on January 15, 2023. The incident involved an ATR 72 aircraft that crashed while attempting to land, killing all 72 people on board.9 hours ago
^^^^Don't believe everything you read on the "interwebs". The OP posted the link to the viral video of the Air India Boeing 787-8 that crashed today. The ATR 72 aircraft is a twin-engine turboprop aircraft, not a twin-engine jet as shown in the crash video.

1749763850725.webp
 
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