“Thrust not achieved… falling… communication line during this transmission very weak… Mayday!” were the last words spoken by the pilot of Air India flight AI171 before it crashed outside the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, minutes after takeoff on June 12.
The pilot’s last words indicate a mechanical failure which could have led to the tragic incident.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route to London Gatwick, was operated by Capt Sumit Sabharwal, a highly experienced pilot with more than 8,000 hours of flying experience. Sabharwal was accompanied by co-pilot Clive Kunder, who had over 1,000 hours of flying experience.
All but one out of the 242 people onboard, including crew and passengers were killed in addition to at least 29 people on ground as the aircraft nosedived minutes after take off, crashing into the students hostel of the B. J. Medical College in the Meghaninagar neighbourhod.
Addressing a press briefing on Saturday, the Aviation Ministry said that the last message from the pilot of the plane was a “Mayday” call, after which the Air Traffic Control (ATC) lost contact with the aircraft.
According to the ministry, the plane took off at 1:39 pm and within a few seconds, after reaching a height of about 650 feet, it started sinking, i.e., it started losing height. The ATC received the Mayday call at 1:39 pm, a minute after which the plane crashed.
The Union Government on Saturday constituted a high-level multi-disciplinary committee, headed by the Union Home Secretary to conduct in-depth investigation into the incident. This is in addition to the investigation being conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
“To further investigate the incident and to look into all the theories and other information that is going around this incident, we felt it would be much better to have another committee also looking into this crash and also the safety. We are going to form another high-level committee, and we have immediately constituted the committee,” Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said at a press briefing on Saturday.
He also said the government has planned to extend surveillance of the Boeing aircraft models, which have come under fire after the deadly crash.
“We have very strict safety standards in the country…When the incident happened, we also felt that there is a need to do an extended surveillance into the Boeing 787 Series,” Naidu said.
Emphasising that the recovery of the black box is crucial to the investigation of the incident, Naidu said the ministry is eagerly waiting for the AAIB team to decode it.
“One important update from the technical investigation which is happening through the AAIB is the recovery of the black box yesterday around 5pm from the site, the AAIB team believes that this decoding of the black box is going to give a, in depth insight into what would have actually happened during the process of the crash or moments before the crash itself. We are also eagerly waiting for what the results or the report is going to be once the AAIB goes through its full investigation,” he said.