As investigators sift through debris in Ahmedabad’s Meghani Nagar, more speculation is pointing towards human error as the likely cause of the Air India flight AI171 crash. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, bound for London Gatwick, came down just seconds after take-off, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and at least 24 more on the ground.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor, remains in hospital with minor injuries. Seated near an emergency exit in 11A, Ramesh said the crash was “instantaneous” and recalled “bodies all around me” as he stumbled out of the wreckage. Emergency responders said his position may have shielded him from the worst of the impact.
The aircraft, carrying mostly Indian and British nationals, failed to gain altitude and crashed into a densely packed residential zone. It struck a student hostel, where dozens had gathered for lunch. The full list of victims, including ground casualties, has yet to be released.
Footage captured from the ground shows the aircraft struggling to climb, nose slightly elevated, landing gear still extended. The engine pitch was described by witnesses as “low and laboured,” but there was no smoke or fire prior to impact.
A widely shared technical breakdown posted online by a commercial pilot operating under the alias Iven’s Dad has become a focal point for aviation circles. “The flaps are only slightly extended, presumably to position 1 instead of 5,” he observed. “The aircraft is at a high angle of attack… the landing gear is still extended, which should have been retracted by then.”
According to his analysis, the most likely cause is an incorrect flap setting paired with derated thrust—perhaps based on a wrongly input take-off weight. “The aircraft got onto the wrong side of the speed vs drag curve and manoeuvred itself into a corner from where there is no escape,” he wrote.
If correct, this sequence suggests the pilots believed they had more power and lift than they actually did. Once airborne, they may have become disoriented by rapidly decaying airspeed, prioritised issuing a mayday call over manual thrust correction, and failed to retract the landing gear—each decision compounding the last.
Senior pilot and safety advisor Arvind Shah said the early analysis “lines up with what we’ve seen in past incidents where aircraft stall at low altitude due to miscalculations and poor energy management. Once you’re in a low-altitude stall with drag still high, there’s almost no margin for recovery.”
The flight’s cockpit voice and data recorders were recovered late Thursday. Indian and international agencies, including the FAA and UK air crash investigators, are now combing through the information to reconstruct the final 45 seconds of the flight.
While Air India has announced full cooperation, the crash comes amid an ongoing modernisation effort within the airline, now under Tata Group ownership. Several frequent flyers have highlighted operational inconsistencies—from faulty inflight systems to what they describe as crew fatigue and ageing fleet management. While these complaints are not linked directly to safety, they hint at institutional gaps.
The 787-8, marketed as one of the world’s most technologically advanced jets, had until now maintained a clean fatality record. Analysts have noted that this incident mirrors a pattern across the global industry, where aircraft systems have grown more complex while pilot training has not always kept pace.
“The problem isn’t that today’s pilots are less capable,” said retired instructor Megha Rao. “It’s that automation and confidence in tech have made the cockpit less alert to edge cases—like this one, where a mismatch between assumptions and real conditions can spiral in seconds.”
No early signs point to sabotage or technical failure unrelated to flight configuration. And unlike some past incidents, no weather factors appear to have played a role. Conditions were clear and dry, and visibility was optimal.
The conversation has now shifted from grief to scrutiny. The crash site is being mapped out metre by metre. Engineers, pilots, and regulators are comparing take-off charts, maintenance logs, and crew assignments. Each detail matters, because the answers could decide not just why 265 lives were lost, but how to prevent the next aircraft from falling into the same invisible trap.
For now, the black box speaks louder than any speech.
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🛫Human error likely caused #AirIndia #AI171 crash—flap misconfiguration & landing gear drag cited. 🚨269 dead, sole survivor escaped via emergency exit. 🦺 Black box analysis ongoing. ✈️Pilot training under scrutiny. #TheIndianSunhttps://t.co/R7pSREgm3G
— The Indian Sun (@The_Indian_Sun) June 13, 2025
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