A London-bound Air India flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad in western India, with 232 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
The aircraft, operating as Flight AI171 to London Gatwick, lost signal just seconds after departure, with tracking data showing its last altitude at 625 feet (190 metres), according to Flightradar24.
Officials confirmed the plane went down in Meghani Nagar, a densely populated residential area.
Rescue and relief operations have been launched on a “war footing,” said the Chief Minister of Gujarat, with a green corridor established to expedite transport of the injured to hospitals.
The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport has suspended all operations until further notice.
Authorities have yet to confirm total casualties or the cause of the crash.
Footage shows moments of the crash of London-bound Air India flight, AI171, carrying 242 passengers and crew, crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India pic.twitter.com/nung0aZi5N
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) June 12, 2025
I don’t see the flaps extended to the take-off position…!!!!!
The Flight Management Computers, sensing that the flaps were up, probably reduced power via auto-throttle as such a ‘flaps-up’ configuration spoofed the Flight Management System into thinking that the aircraft was on initial approach as opposed to take-off, and reduced the throttles when in fact full power was needed to climb-out!
This also could have been a stall, based on the flaps being retracted which raised the stall speed…leading to a stall / spin accident. Reports were that this aircraft went in inverted (upside-down…).
This is why Flight Engineers who are also Pilots are needed back in the cockpits, and the Flight Management Computer System need to go as their flight and configuration parameters are limited, whereas the Flight Engineer has greater awareness of the intricacies in real time, and not just some software program that is limited in it’s flight parameter programming.