Air India plane crash: Gujarat ATS recovers digital video recorder from debris
A London-bound Air India plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed in a residential area in Ahmedabad minutes after taking off on Thursday.
The Gujarat ATS on Friday recovered a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) from the debris of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad on Thursday, June 12.
"It's a DVR, which we have recovered from the debris. The FSL team will come here soon," an ATS personnel told ANI news agency.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (AI171), which carried 230 passengers and 12 crew members, crashed into the complex of a medical college on Thursday afternoon. It had taken off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad.
One person survived the crash, while 241 on board were killed. Of the total passengers onboard, there were 169 Indians, 53 British, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals, apart from 12 crew members.
Air India plane crash
Air Traffic Control (ATC) said the aircraft departed from Runway 23 at Ahmedabad airport at 1:39pm. Shortly after takeoff, it issued a Mayday call, signalling a critical emergency. However, the crew failed to respond to subsequent ATC communications, and the flight lost contact moments before it crashed outside the airport perimeter.
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Data from Flightradar24 indicated that the twin-engine Boeing 787 had reached an altitude of 625 feet at a speed of 174 knots before entering a slow descent with its landing gear still extended.
Aviation experts told HT that the aircraft’s flight profile — descending while maintaining a nose-up attitude — might suggest a sudden and severe power loss. They cautioned, however, that while such a descent profile is consistent with engine failure, the exact cause cannot be confirmed until later after investigation.
The aircraft was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kundar. Captain Sumeet Sabharwal had 8,200 hours of flying experience, and the co-pilot had 1,100 hours of flying experience.
