Air India crash and the MAYDAY call: What really happens when pilots declare an emergency?

An Air India Dreamliner, operating as flight AI-171 bound from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick Airport, plummeted to the ground shortly after takeoff, killing 241 on board with one individual having miraculously survived.

The aircraft, identified by registration number VT-ANB, was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon and has since triggered a national-level emergency response and put the spotlight how emergency communication and air traffic control mechanisms operate during aviation crises.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s civil aviation regulatory authority, confirmed the crash in an official statement, saying: “Air India B787 Aircraft VT-ANB, while operating flight AI-171 from (Ahmedabad to Gatwick) has crashed immediately after takeoff from Ahmedabad. There were 242 people on board the aircraft, consisting of 2 pilots and 10 cabin crew. The aircraft was under the command of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar.”

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“MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY"

According to official ATC records, flight AI-171 commenced its departure from Runway 23 at 1:39 pm IST (0809 UTC).

Almost immediately after liftoff, the cockpit crew issued an internationally recognised emergency declaration. “MAYDAY, MAYDAY…” echoed across the radio waves — the final transmission received from the aircraft.

Despite multiple subsequent attempts by Air Traffic Control to reestablish contact, there was no reply from the cockpit.

The commander of the flight, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, was an experienced line training captain with 8,200 flying hours logged, and the co-pilot, First Officer Clive Kundar, had 1,100 hours of flight time.

The sudden loss of communication following the MAYDAY signal indicates that the crew encountered a situation so critical that no further instructions or requests could be conveyed to ground control.

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Moments later, the aircraft came down just beyond the airport’s outer perimeter, with thick plumes of smoke rising from the wreckage. The crash site was located near Dharpur, close to the Meghaninagar area of Ahmedabad.

Emergency responders, including firefighters and medical units, reached the location quickly.

Initial reports indicate the flight carried 232 passengers and 10 crew members. Among the passengers were 169 citizens of India, 53 from the United Kingdom, seven from Portugal, and one Canadian national.

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was among those on board and has been confirmed dead.

What does a MAYDAY call signify?

The final message from the AI-171 crew — a repeated MAYDAY transmission — is not just an alarming utterance. In aviation terminology, a MAYDAY call is the most serious distress communication possible, signalling that the flight is facing an immediate threat to safety and requires urgent assistance.

The DGCA has stated: “The Air India B787 Aircraft gave a MAYDAY call to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) immediately after take-off. It, however, did not respond after that to calls made by the ATC to the aircraft.”

The concept of a MAYDAY call has its roots in the early 20th century. It was coined by Frederick Stanley Mockford, a radio officer at Croydon Airport, London, who was tasked with devising a word that could universally indicate distress and be easily understood across linguistic barriers.

Drawing inspiration from the French phrase “m’aider”, meaning “help me”, Mockford proposed “Mayday” — a term that has remained central to aviation and maritime emergency communication since 1923.

The formal adoption of MAYDAY occurred in 1927, when the International Radiotelegraph Convention designated it as the standard voice distress call, complementing the earlier Morse code SOS system.

Emergency frequencies such as 121.5 MHz (civilian) and 243 MHz (military) are permanently monitored by air traffic controllers and aircraft for any such calls.

MAYDAY calls are typically repeated three times to distinguish them from similar-sounding words. Once declared, all other radio communications are deprioritised, and the aircraft in distress becomes the primary focus of ATC and nearby pilots.

What happens after a MAYDAY? Understanding ATC’s emergency role

Air Traffic Control personnel are rigorously trained to respond to emergency declarations with immediate and decisive action. Their role expands rapidly from communication facilitators to crisis coordinators.

Here are the standard procedures initiated when a MAYDAY is declared:

• Immediate prioritisation: The aircraft issuing the MAYDAY is given the highest priority. Controllers may instruct nearby flights to change course or hold positions to free up airspace.

• Vector guidance: Controllers provide directional inputs to guide the distressed aircraft toward the nearest viable runway or alternative safe landing location, depending on flight altitude, weather and runway suitability.

• Emergency coordination: Ground emergency services — fire units, medical responders, airport security—are informed and dispatched to strategic positions, often along expected landing routes or impact zones.

• Information relay: ATC relays critical information to the cockpit, such as weather updates, potential obstructions, or changes to landing configuration.

• Monitoring and support: ATC continues attempting to maintain or restore communication and monitors the aircraft’s altitude, speed, and trajectory on radar. If communication is lost — as it was with AI-171 — controllers act on the last known data and initiate full-scale emergency procedures.

In specific scenarios, ATC may also serve as an intermediary between pilots and technical advisors, including airline operations centres or medical personnel if the emergency is health-related.

The broader role of MAYDAY

Globally, the use of MAYDAY has expanded beyond just aviation and maritime distress. In some jurisdictions, fire departments, police services, and emergency medical services also employ the term in life-threatening situations, though it remains most associated with aircraft and vessels.

If a plane cannot transmit a MAYDAY itself — due to radio malfunction or incapacitated crew — other aircraft or ATC may initiate a MAYDAY relay on its behalf.

Additionally, misuse of the MAYDAY protocol is considered a criminal offense in many countries, with penalties including fines, imprisonment and restitution costs.

While lesser emergencies may be signalled using the term “Pan-Pan” (from the French word panne, meaning breakdown), only a MAYDAY signifies a “grave and imminent” threat.

In earlier decades, “Pan-Pan Medico” was used to specify medical emergencies, though that suffix has now been retired in official usage.

What next for the Air India Boeing Flight AI-171 crash

As soon as news of the crash broke, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed and immediately reached out to key members of the Union Cabinet.

According to reports, Modi held discussions with Home Minister Amit Shah and Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, asking both ministers to proceed to Ahmedabad without delay to directly monitor the ongoing response efforts and extend government support to affected families.

“The PM asked the two ministers to go to Ahmedabad and ensure all possible assistance is extended to those affected,” according to officials aware of the developments.

Shah, earlier in the day, also contacted Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to discuss local-level support and the scale of the tragedy.

The government has since mobilised federal, state, and airport-level response teams, and recovery operations are underway near the crash site.

Investigators are expected to retrieve the aircraft’s black boxes — the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) — which will be crucial in determining what happened in those last few moments after takeoff.

The swift MAYDAY declaration shows that the pilots followed procedure under immense stress, but the lack of follow-up suggests a critical emergency that unfolded too fast to contain.

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With inputs from agencies