Air India crash: Panel probing Ahmedabad mishap files preliminary report on why AI171 went down

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has submitted the preliminary report in the investigation of the Air India’s AI171 crash to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and other relevant authorities, sources told CNN-News 18.

The Ahmedabad-London AI171 flight crashed within minutes of takeoff on June 12. A total of 260 people were killed in the accident that included 241 in the flight, including passengers and crew, and 19 persons on the ground. Only one passenger survived the crash.

The fatalities on the ground were caused after the aeroplane, a Boeing 787-8 ‘Dreamliner’, crashed into the BJ Medical College.

Evidence from preliminary investigations, including simulations by Air India, has suggested that engine failure or some other kind of aircraft malfunction likely caused the accident.

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The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations’ (UN) agency for civil aviation, requires the state leading the air crash investigation to provide a preliminary report within 30 days of the accident. The requirement is mandated in Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention. India is a founding member of the ICAO and a signatory of the Chicago Convention.

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The New York Times has reported that the pilot had activated the ram air turbine (RAT) from the analysis of the audio-visual evidence from the crash.

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The RAT is the emergency power source that is activated when the aircraft has lost power from electrical, hydraulic, or engine failures. The RAT does not produce enough power for the flight to continue but can provide enough power to make an emergency landing.

The Times further reported that the fact that the aircraft did not sway to either side as it crashed suggests that it lost both engines — the aircraft sways to one side when it loses one engine.

All the evidence so far suggests that the aircraft lost all power around the same time, according to Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigator for the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“You don’t see any kind of indication of asymmetric thrust. You don’t see yawing, you don’t see rudder deflection, you don’t see smoke, or puffs of flame from either engine. That all adds up to me to be a symmetrical loss of power,” Guzzetti told The Times.