Pilot’s Last Move May Have Saved Thousands in Air India Crash
The pilot of the Air India flight that crashed last week may have made a final heroic maneuver that prevented even greater tragedy, reports suggest.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, flight AI-171, crashed less than a minute after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 270 people, including nearly all onboard and several on the ground. The plane collided with a medical college hostel in the Meghani Nagar area, sparking a massive explosion and fire due to its heavy fuel load for a London-bound flight.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, nearing retirement, and co-pilot Officer Clive Kundar issued a mayday call moments before the crash: “Mayday… no thrust, losing power, unable to lift.”
While the cause remains under investigation, speculation online suggests the pilot deliberately steered the failing aircraft away from the nearby Civil Hospital Ahmedabad, which houses over 3,000 patients. Crashing there could have resulted in far more deaths.
The aircraft instead went down in a less densely populated area housing medical student hostels, just 1.7 km from the airport.
India’s Civil Aviation Minister confirmed the plane’s black box has been recovered, calling it a key step in uncovering the cause of the nation’s deadliest air disaster in over 30 years.