Air India flight AI-171, from Ahmedabad to London, crashed shortly after take-off this morning, leaving hundreds dead.
Aviation experts have said the crash could have been caused by issues including multiple birds coming in the way while the engines also failed.
“The take-off was perfect and just, I believe, short of taking the gear up, the aircraft started descending, which can happen only in case the engine loses power or the aircraft stops developing lift. Obviously, the investigation will reveal the exact reason.” Captain Saurabh Bhatnagar, a former senior pilot, told NDTV.
A bird strike ‘would explain why the aircraft did not have the power to lift,’ he said. ‘If there were multiple bird hits on take-off, it probably could not have gone beyond the 6-7 minute threshold and started falling.’
Aviation experts also said that the plane may have suddenly lost power ‘at the most critical phase of flight’ after takeoff.
The plane had 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, a Canadian and 7 Portuguese on board.
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