An Air India flight to London crashed into a residential area in Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 people. The crash has also caused the injuries and deaths of an unknown number of people on the ground, including medical students in a college dormitory facility. All but one of the 12 crew members and 230 passengers on board the Boeing 787 Dreamliner are reported dead. Miraculously, the sole survivor is not in critical condition and should be discharged from hospital care in the coming days.
The India Civil Aviation Directorate General reported that flight 171 sent a distress signal to the air traffic control center shortly after taking off, but information is limited to videos that captured the incident until the black box is recovered.
Former Federal Aviation Administration Accident Investigation Director Jeff Guzzetti pointed out that the pilot may have mistakenly retracted the flaps instead of the landing gear, which violates the standard procedure of retracting the landing gear immediately after takeoff. He explained that open flaps will increase lift and shorten take-off distance, and that it seemed the aircraft was unable to climb smoothly after leaving the runway.
Aviation consulting firm R.W. Mann & Company, Inc. Head Bob Mann said the Boeing 787 still seemed not to have had enough thrust even near the end of the 3,355-meter runway, which is long enough for the airplane to take off. He added that this could be because the aircraft computer was set up incorrectly before takeoff, or the weight data entered into the computer system was not accurate, causing the system to misjudge the thrust required for takeoff.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board stated that it will send a team to India to assist in the investigation. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration also said it would provide technical support.