Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 13 : Arindam Dutta, a serving commercial pilot, on Friday shared his insight into the fatal airplane crash in Ahmedabad and said that the exact details on the incident can only be ascertained after the black box, in the rear of the aircraft is recovered and investigated.
Dutta also said that the pilot's Mayday call just 30 seconds after takeoff from the airport suggests the pilot was struggling.
Speaking to ANI, Arindam Dutta said, "It is too early to comment. The exact details cannot be given until the black box is recovered and investigated. It came to our knowledge that after takeoff, the landing gear was still down, while it should have been up after 50 to 60 feet, and then it sank within 30 to 40 seconds."
He further said, "With a huge amount of fuel, at least 90-100 tons of fuel, that's aviation gasoline - it's highly inflammable, and with a small spark, it is just like a bomb. Like we saw, just after the aeroplane sank, it became a huge fireball. It is a huge disaster. The Dreamliner is a next-generation and very safe aircraft. Boeing and Airbus are giant companies. They are always working with their engines and aircraft. For people to complain and blame now after the crash is very easy. Instead, we should devise a proper reason and rectify it."
"The safety audit will give us the proper reason. There may be two to three causes: mechanical, human error, or weather. During takeoff and landing, these two segments are very vital. In those 30 seconds, the captain gave a mayday call, so something was going on in the cockpit, and during that period, he had the guts to give a call. This means the pilot was struggling," he added.
The AI-171 Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aeroplane bound for London's Gatwick had crashed shortly after it took off from the Ahmedabad International Airport on Thursday. The airlines said only one out of the 242 people on board the aircraft survived the crash.
The aircraft was piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 flying hours.
According to Air Traffic Control (ATC), the aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from runway 23. It made a Mayday call to ATC, but thereafter, the aircraft did not respond to the calls made by ATC.
Immediately after departing Runway 23, the aircraft crashed outside the airport perimeter, and heavy black smoke began emanating from the accident site.
Vishwashkumar Ramesh miraculously survived the Air India plane crash a day ago, in which 241 other passengers died. Kumar, a British national of Indian origin, was seated in row 11, at the left window seat in the flight's economy class section, right behind an emergency exit.
There were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national on board the crashed plane, airline authorities said.
A process of DNA sampling for the identification of deceased passengers of the Air India 171 flight is underway at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Modi visited the Air India plane crash site in Ahmedabad and reviewed the ground situation. PM Modi went to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and met the lone survivor of the AI 171 plane crash and those injured in the mishap.