Air India plane crash
NEW DELHI: In the wake of the Air India plane crash in Gujarat on Thursday, aviation experts are raising critical questions about the circumstances leading up to the incident.The crash, which occurred shortly after takeoff, has left investigators and aviation specialists questioning. Former pilot Ehsan Khalid emphasized the importance of the Flight Data Recorder, Cockpit Voice Recorder, and ACARS data in determining the exact cause of the crash. “The visuals show that the aircraft went down while flying. Which means there was no mid-air explosion,” Khalid said.He pointed out that the aircraft appeared to have faced a loss of power, which could be attributed to engine malfunction. However, he stressed that it is highly unlikely for both engines to fail simultaneously, especially due to a bird strike within such a short timeframe. “The visuals show that the aircraft faced a loss of power… The loss of power can be due to engine malfunction, but it is very unlikely that both engines would lose power simultaneously... It is a very big engine, and it is rare that both engines lose power due to a bird hit in a one-minute duration,” he added to his explanation on the possible cause.Also See: Plane Crash in AhmedabadKhalid also highlighted the pilot’s mayday call, suggesting that the crew was aware of a failure and attempted to manage it while airborne. “I don’t understand why the landing gear was still down… The landing gear is raised as soon as the flight takes off… Since the landing gear was down, it is possible that a loss of engine was detected beforehand… There are many variables, and any speculation would be unjust... The biggest question is why the landing gear was not up. The flight was at a height of 600 feet… Whether it was one problem or multiple problems, no one can say anything yet,” he added.Meanwhile, US aerospace safety consultant Anthony Brickhouse voiced similar concerns, noting that the landing gear’s position was unusual for that phase of flight. “If you didn’t know what was happening, you would think that plane was on approach to a runway,” Brickhouse said, pointing to the anomaly.Read: Ex-Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani among victims in Ahmedabad plane crash, confirms BJP; calls his demise ‘a big loss’Another US expert, Aviation safety consultant John M Cox stated that investigators would examine whether the Air India aircraft was correctly configured for flight. He emphasised that it was premature to draw any conclusions. Cox, CEO of Washington DC-based Safety Operating Systems, indicated that the grainy flight images suggested one area of inquiry might be the positioning of the slats and flaps during the aircraft’s attempted climb. “The image shows the airplane with the nose rising and it continuing to sink,” Cox said. “That says that the airplane is not making enough lift.” Slats and flaps should be adjusted to enable the wing to generate more lift at lower speeds, Cox added.John McDermid, a computer science professor at the University of York specialising in safety engineering, claimed that although it was too early to determine much about the crash’s cause, it appeared highly surprising at first glance. “It’s hard to tell but from looking at the aircraft from behind… it doesn’t look like the trailing edge flaps are in the position I would have expected them to be. But I’m very cautious that the image quality is not good enough to make that conclusion. It’s just an area where I know that they’re going to look,” he said.Read: ‘Why was landing gear down?’ Aviation experts on what might have caused the Air India plane crashMcDermid noted that while takeoffs and landings are the most dangerous phases of a flight, the plane had not climbed above 200 metres or 650 feet. “Pilots can abort takeoff until quite late,” McDermid further said adding, “So it seems like the problem occurred very suddenly in the final part of the takeoff roll, or shortly after takeoff, and was sufficiently serious to be unmanageable.” As investigators work to piece together the events leading up to the crash, the focus remains on understanding the cause of the crash. The aircraft was reportedly at a height of 600 feet when the incident occurred, raising questions about whether the crew was dealing with a single problem or multiple issues simultaneously.
