An Air India passenger plane bound for London Gatwick has crashed shortly after taking off in Ahmedabad in western India.
More than 240 people were on board the flight, which took off at 1.39pm local time , Air India said, and was scheduled to land in Gatwick at 6.25pm BST.
Among the passengers on board on Thursday were 53 British nationals, 169 Indian nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals.
It is yet unclear what may have caused the crash, but aviation experts have shared their knowledge based on the emerging footage of the incident.
The 787 Dreamliner involved in the crash is a widebody, twin-engine plane and had a total of 256 seats on board.It is the first ever crash of a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
The aircraft was introduced in 2009 and there are over 1,100 models currently in service across 80 operators. Aviation experts share their knowledge based on the emerging footage of the incident.
An Air India passenger plane bound for London Gatwick has crashed shortly after taking off in Ahmedabad in western India.
More than 240 people were on board the flight, which took off at 1.39pm local time , Air India said, and was scheduled to land in Gatwick at 6.25pm BST.
Among the passengers on board on Thursday were 53 British nationals, 169 Indian nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals.
It is yet unclear what may have caused the crash, but aviation experts have shared their knowledge based on the emerging footage of the incident.
The 787 Dreamliner involved in the crash is a widebody, twin-engine plane and had a total of 256 seats on board.
Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told the BBC that investigators would likely need to examine “a possible error in the cockpit.”
Mr Thomas observed that the aircraft’s undercarriage appeared to still be deployed, while the flaps had already been retracted—something he described as “unusual” so soon after takeoff.
“The plane simply sank, it didn’t lurch from one side to the other, showing a possible mechanical problem. It looked as though […] it was coming into land,” Mr Thomas said.
“We are not looking at this vision of this 787 that has taken off and now sinking down into crash, the undercarriage is still down but the flaps have been retracted.
Now I am just wondering whether in fact there was some possible error in the cockpit.”
Mr Thomas referenced the Staines Air Disaster of 1972, whereby British European Airways Flight 548, a Hawker Siddeley Trident aircraft, crashed near Staines, killing all 188 lives on board.
