Air India Flight AI171: A Catastrophic Crash and the Unanswered Questions

The crash of Air India Flight AI171 shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad has left investigators racing for answers. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner went down less than 2km from the runway, killing 241 people on board and others on the ground. This marks the first fatal crash involving a 787-8 since its commercial debut in 2011, prompting a multi-national investigation led by Indian authorities alongside US and UK experts.

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Clive Kundar were at the helm of the ill-fated flight, both with extensive experience and over 9,000 hours between them. The plane took off around 13:39 local time, carrying nearly a full fuel load for its trip to London. Within seconds of takeoff, the cockpit issued a mayday call — the last communication from the aircraft before it vanished from radar and crashed into a crowded residential zone.

Eyewitness accounts and video footage authenticated by BBC Verify show the plane flying unusually low over buildings before disappearing behind trees and erupting in a fiery explosion. Data shows the aircraft never rose above 625 feet before descending rapidly. The area of impact was a dense neighborhood that included apartment complexes, hospitals, and government offices, exacerbating the scale of the disaster.

One major theory gaining traction is a double engine failure — an event so rare that it draws comparisons to the 2009 Hudson River emergency landing. Experts are looking into whether the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), a backup system, had to be deployed. Fuel contamination or a clogged metering system has also been floated as a possible cause of simultaneous engine shutdown.

Bird strikes are another possibility, especially given the location. Ahmedabad Airport is known for bird activity, with dozens of strikes reported annually. In the past five years, Gujarat saw 462 bird strike incidents, with the majority at this airport. Although bird strikes are usually not fatal, if both engines ingest large birds at low altitude, the consequences can be catastrophic, as seen in previous global incidents.

There’s also speculation surrounding possible human error — specifically, whether the aircraft's flaps were deployed correctly during takeoff. Flaps help increase lift at lower speeds, and without proper extension, a plane loaded with passengers and fuel might fail to climb. However, the 787's configuration warning system typically alerts pilots to such issues, making this theory debatable among experts.

As the investigation continues, black box data and debris analysis will be crucial in revealing the root cause. With teams from GE Aerospace and Boeing assisting, the world watches as officials work to untangle the mystery behind this devastating accident. For now, the loss of Flight AI171 stands as a grim reminder of how multiple small failures — mechanical or human — can culminate in tragedy.