A professor specialising in safety engineering says he is ‘surprised’ the doomed Air India plane crashed before getting 650 feet into the air. John McDermid, of the University of York, says a problem likely occurred very suddenly in the final part stage of take-off, or shortly into the flight.
He told the Press Association: “Take-off and landing are the most dangerous phases of flight. However, that said, it’s surprising that the accident occurred before the aircraft had even got to 200 metres altitude.
“Pilots can abort take-off until quite late in the take-off roll, so it seems like the problem occurred very suddenly in the final part of the take-off roll, or shortly after take-off, and was sufficiently serious to be unmanageable.
“Given the levels of redundancy in systems, the fact that aircraft are designed to climb out on only one engine, etc. on initial sight this seems a very surprising accident.”
Professor McDermid added it is “very unlikely” the plane was overweight or carrying too much fuel as “there are careful checks on this”. He insisted it is too early to know “in any detail” what may have caused the Air India incident at this stage.
Graham Braithwaite, director of aerospace and aviation at Cranfield University, agreed with Professor McDermid, stating take-off is a “critical stage” of any flight. This is due to the rapid acceleration along the runway, with any problem-solving requiring a quick response.
The weather is a key factor in a successful take-off, with turbulence, strong winds, fog and heavy rain all affecting departures. However, conditions in Ahmedabad appear to have been very good at the time of the crash.
Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading, said there’s no evidence of any bad weather in the vicinity of the airport. He said: “It was a dry and sunny day in Ahmedabad, with temperatures near 40C.
“There was good visibility and light winds from the west. There is no indication at this stage that turbulence or other weather conditions were a factor in the crash.”
The crash, which saw a plane carrying over 240 passengers plummet to the ground, will be investigated by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch is also likely to be involved because of the number of British nationals onboard.
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