The pilot of the twin-engine wide bodied aircraft issued a 'Mayday' distress call, denoting a full emergency, soon after takeoff at 1.39 pm, the Air Traffic Control at Ahmedabad said.
Father of deceased pilot and Federation of Indian Pilots petition Supreme Court for a court-monitored inquiry into the Air India flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad.
'This (crash) is one of those times where there is no concrete explanation yet for what happened. I think that adds to my parents' worry.'
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is 'totally unbiased' and is carrying out a definitive and thorough rule-based probe to find out what exactly led to the Air India plane crash that killed 260 people last month, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
'The real story of 2025 is that India officially stopped being a 'market of the future' and started acting as the world's primary economic engine.'
InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of IndiGo, has approached the Delhi high court seeking a refund of over Rs 900 crore it claims to have paid as Customs duty on aircraft engines and parts re-imported into India after overseas repairs. The petition came up for hearing on Friday before a bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Shail Jain.
Soon after the takeoff, the pilot of ill-fated Air India aircraft gave a Mayday call to the Ahmedabad air traffic controller.
The last rites of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, pilot in command of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, were performed in Mumbai on Tuesday with his grief-stricken father bidding a heart-wrenching, tearful farewell to his son before the cremation.
'Who gave the Tatas the right to discontinue technically sound practices related to safety and security?'
'In 50 seconds, the pilots were fighting drag, trying relight, throttling up and avoiding obstacles.' 'They had neither height nor speed. There was no margin.'
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu assures a clean investigation into the Air India plane crash, dismissing concerns of manipulation. The statement follows calls for a judicial probe and criticism of selective leaks from the preliminary report.
The Supreme Court has raised concerns about the preliminary report on the Air India crash and has asked for a more independent and thorough investigation.
'We're always looking at how we can keep improving, keep getting better, and keep learning.'
Hundreds of people, including inconsolable family members and friends, gave an emotional farewell to First Officer Clive Kunder, co-pilot of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, and flight attendant Roshni Songhare whose last rites were held on Thursday.
An aviation expert suggests investigators should focus on a possible fault in the stabiliser of the crashed Air India flight.
Families of victims of the Air India plane crash have hired a US law firm to explore legal options, seeking answers and accountability.
The Supreme Court has criticized the selective publication of a preliminary report on the Air India crash, calling it 'unfortunate and irresponsible'. The court raised concerns about privacy, dignity of victims' families, and the potential for biased narratives.
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Tuesday reported a loss of Rs 2,582.10 crore in the September quarter as higher forex losses and expenses impacted the bottom line, and it expects to induct the first long range Airbus A321 XLR aircraft in December. The airline, which had a loss of Rs 986.7 crore in the year-ago period, said hedging actions and more revenues in foreign currencies from international operations will help cushion the currency movements.
'The tone of the preliminary report creates a narrative towards pilot error. This is wrong.' 'Selected conversation has been divulged. It's not as if the pilots did not speak anything else in the cockpit.'
'Who tried engine relight?' 'If the first officer was the one flying at takeoff, the captain may have taken control immediately post-thrust loss.' 'But the AAIB report doesn't clarify any of this.'
"When the fuel control switch has to be cut off, the pilot flying will say, fuel control switch left, confirm. So, after the confirmation is made by the second pilot, the pilot monitoring will cut off (the switch).
Aviation expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan claims human error led to the Air India plane crash and calls for more transparency in the AAIB's preliminary report.
'Earlier, the NTSB was actively flagging technical issues with Boeing. But now, the narrative is shifting toward 'human error'.' 'That term is often misunderstood -- it could mean pilots, engineers, refueling staff -- anyone.' 'But this framing ('human error') conveniently steers the conversation away from mechanical or design faults.'
We celebrate the pioneering achievements of Captain Durba Banerjee and Avani Chaturvedi, leaders in Indian aviation.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday suspended Air India's Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai after finding certain alleged lapses during a spot check, a DGCA official said. The pilots, who were scheduled to undergo refresher courses at the Mumbai facility, will now not be able to do so.
Pilots typically operate the fuel control switches during two key phases: At engine start-up on the ground and during engine shutdown after landing.
Air India pilots said Ahmedabad airport has long been known for bird activity near the runway, which could have contributed to the incident.
'Visualise those 15 to 18 seconds: Fully loaded aircraft, pilot manually controlling with both hands (no autopilot immediately after takeoff), looking forward while switches are behind.'
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has urged restraint in speculating about the cause of the Air India plane crash, emphasizing that the investigation is ongoing and premature narratives should be avoided.
'... when the process isn't transparent, people will naturally raise questions. 'The AAIB's own press release says they had the black boxes by June 16.' 'Why wasn't decoding initiated until the 24th? What were they waiting for?'
India's last three major commercial aviation accidents --Patna (2000), Mangaluru (2010), and Kozhikode (2020) -- could offer critical safety lessons for the ongoing investigation.
'...from the recovered part of the throttle quadrant -- the control panel that manages engine power -- it is hard to say at this stage if the locking mechanism was damaged in any way.'
Air India's CEO defends the fitness of pilots and aircraft after a preliminary report into the crash of flight AI171 raised questions. He urged against premature conclusions as the investigation continues.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson addresses the preliminary report on the Ahmedabad plane crash, stating no mechanical or maintenance issues were found with the aircraft. He urges against premature conclusions as the investigation continues.
The 2013 Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook, a bellwether industry forecast of aviation personnel demand, calls for 192,300 new commercial airline pilots and 215,300 new technicians in the Asia Pacific region through 2032.
After a London-bound Air India aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, the spotlight is back on India's history with aviation disasters.
'When there are glaring errors in the report, how can you trust anything in it?'
'If anything happened out of the normal, there would be instantaneous ECAM, EICAS warnings, the master caution or master warnings going off.' 'It would be like a Christmas tree in the cockpit if things start going wrong.'
It takes only two hours - roughly the time it takes for a plane to fly from Delhi to Mumbai - for a pair of pilots to complete their training on the 737 MAX simulator at Boeing's centre in Noida, the only one of its kind in India. Going by this estimate, all the 90 Spicejet pilots who the civil aviation regulator barred from flying the 737 MAX can be retrained in 90 hours.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has published its preliminary report on the fatal accident of Air India's Boeing 787-8 plane that was operating flight AI 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick on June 12.
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