Air India crash probe puts early focus on engine thrust

London-bound flight crashed shortly after takeoff with 242 on board, leaving single survivor and a death toll of 279.

Debris of Air India flight 171. Picture: AFP

An investigation into the deadly crash of a London-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 is focusing on whether the aircraft had a loss or reduction in engine thrust, according to people briefed on the probe.

The aircraft crashed shortly after taking off with 242 people on board on Thursday, leaving a single survivor. The death toll has risen to 279, according to police sources on Saturday, including medical students at a hostel and other victims in the residential neighbourhood where the plane went down.

The flight reached an altitude of 625 feet in clear conditions when it stopped transmitting location data, according to Flightradar24, just 50 seconds into the flight. Efforts to contact the cockpit after it issued a mayday call drew no response.

The probe was in its early stages, and new points of interest could emerge as investigators comb through wreckage and recover and analyse the plane’s flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders. The people familiar with the probe cautioned that engine thrust was an early focus as many questions remained unanswered.

Investigations can last months and often point to a number of factors contributing to a crash, such as crew missteps and maintenance errors.

Videos of the Air India flight showed the jet lifting off, then descending toward buildings, sending flames and smoke into the sky.

The surviving passenger, Viswashkumar Ramesh, a British national, had a window seat on an exit row near the front of the plane. He recounted what happened in an interview on Friday from his hospital bed with Indian state-owned television channel DD News.

Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah meeting British plane crash survivor Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, at a hospital in Ahmedabad. Picture: Ministry of Home Affairs India via AP

“I think the side of the plane I was in, it didn’t land on the hostel, it landed below on the ground floor,” he said. “When my door broke, I saw in front of me that there is some space and that I can try to go out. So I tried and got out there.”

Nobody would have been able to get out on the opposite side of the plane, which was against a wall, he said.

“I myself can’t believe how I came out of it alive,” he said. “Because for some time, I was feeling that I, too, am going to die.”

A nurse who treated Ramesh said he had some cuts and abrasions but nothing life-threatening. “He is traumatised but physically he is fine,” she said.

Ahmedabad is one of India’s most populous cities and the largest in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi went to the crash site on Friday and visited the nearby Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where he spoke with Ramesh.

Around 100 people injured on the ground were brought to the hospital, including about 50 medical students who were at the dormitory where the plane crashed, a doctor there said Friday.

The flight was carrying 230 passengers, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. The crash was the deadliest civil aviation disaster since the 2014 crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine killed 298 people.

The Air India crash was the first fatal incident for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which entered service in 2011. As is the case with other modern aircraft, it is equipped with advanced safety systems that can aid pilots in emergencies.

Videos suggested the aircraft had sufficient thrust to take off initially, leaping off the runway as it should, said Ben Berman, a former senior accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board and pilot for a major US airline.

Kalpeshbhai Patni, whose 14-year-old brother was killed when an Air India plane crashed into a neighbourhood, wails outside the autopsy room at a hospital in Ahmedabad. Picture: AP /Rafiq Maqbool

“It climbed really well for the first few seconds,” Berman said. “It leapt off and then immediately sagged and then sank down.”

A possible failure or combination of problems could have resulted in a reduction of “thrust to a very low level,” he said.

Indian authorities are leading the crash investigation. The NTSB will support the probe, with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and engine maker GE Aerospace.

US officials said they would send resources to help and take action as needed to protect air passengers. “We will not hesitate to mitigate any risks we identify in that process,” acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said Thursday.

“We have a lot of questions but we have to wait because we have to get authentic information,” Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Air India owner Tata Sons, said in an interview with CNBC.

Wall Street Journal