Live: 6 Victims’ Bodies Handed Over to Families
The plane rose into the air after take-off and began sink to the ground moments later, with its landing gear down.
In one of the worst and most puzzling aviation disasters ever, a London-bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (flight AI-171), with 242 people on board, including the two pilots and 10 cabin crew, crashed immediately after takeoff from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad at about 1.40 pm, killing all but one on board.
Many people on the ground were believed killed. PTI reported that 265 bodies had been brought to the city civil hospital. “265 bodies have reached the hospital as per the message we received,” deputy commissioner of police Kanan Desai told reporters.” Some agencies put the figure at 290.
The plane rose into the air after take-off and began sink to the ground moments later, with its landing gear down. According to the flight tracker websites, it never gained more than 625 feet in height, and recorded a ground speed of 174 knots (about 332 km), said to be too less.
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DGCA Orders Enhanced Inspection of Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner Fleet
New Delhi: Aviation watchdog DGCA on Friday ordered enhanced safety inspection of Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet powered by GEnx engines, a day after 241 people onboard died in the plane crash in Ahmedabad.The enhanced DGCA inspection will include checks of various systems and a review of take-off parameters of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft of Air India, owned by Tata Group.
There are 26 Boeing 787-8s and 7 Boeing 787-9s in the Air India fleet.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed Air India to carry out additional maintenance actions on its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 planes equipped with Genx engines with immediate effect.
These actions will be carried out in coordination with the DGCA regional offices concerned.
Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, operating a flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed soon after the take-off on Thursday afternoon. Out of the 242 people on board the plane, only one person survived.
With effect from January 15, the regulator has ordered various one-time checks of the Boeing 787 planes, including inspection of fuel parameter monitoring and associated system checks.
Inspection of cabin air compressor and associated systems, electronic engine control system test, engine fuel driven actuator-operational test, and oil system checks have also been ordered.
Besides, DGCA has directed to carry out a serviceability check of the hydraulic system and review of take-off parameters.
According to an order issued by the watchdog, flight control inspection has to be introduced in transit inspection till further notice, apart from having power assurance checks within two weeks.
Also, DGCA has said there should be "closure of maintenance actions based upon the review of repetitive snags during the last 15 days on B787-8/9 aircraft at the earliest".
Reports of these checks have to be submitted to the regulator for review.
The London Gatwick-bound Boeing 787 aircraft that crashed on Thursday was powered by GEnx engines.
GEnx engines are made by GE Aerospace.
On Thursday, GE Aerospace said it is prepared to support Air India and the investigation into the plane crash in Ahmedabad.
"We have activated our emergency response team, and we are prepared to support our customer and the investigation," a GE Aerospace spokesperson had said in a statement.
Black Box Found On Rooftop of Doctors' Hostel Building
After the DRV, the black box of the Ahmedabad-London Air India flight has also been recovered. Though called black box, it is an orange-coloured device fitted at the tail of the plane and will help investigate the reasons behind the tragic crash that claimed more than 240 lives so far.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team recovered the black box from the rooftop of the resident doctors' hostel building, on which the flight crashed.
The black box contains a flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR). All the technical data related to the aircraft is recorded by FDR while the CVR records the cockpit conversation between the pilots till the last minute.
The black box is a crash-resistant device located near the tail of the plane because an aircraft crashes on the side of the nose. The black box also helps the investigation team to locate the aircraft after a crash.
The recovery of the black box will help the investigation team know the facts that led to the disaster.
Digital Video Recorder Recovered From Crash Debris at BJ Medical College
There has been a major breakthrough in the probe into the Air India Flight AI-171 with the officials recovering the digital video recorder (DVR) from the wreckage of the plane. Officials are expecting that the DVR would provide crucial data that could reveal the reasons behind the crash of the Air India flight.
The DVR was found by an anti-terrorism squad (ATS) at the crash site near the BJ Medical College hostel in Ahmedabad. The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) would analyse the DVR to understand what led to the tragic crash of the plane.
Experts believe that the DVR would provide crucial data relating to the cockpit recordings and system data, that could help them if it was technical glitch, human error or some other unforeseen reasons behind the major aviation disaster.
A team of FSL, IAF and DGCA officials would soon begin the retrieval of data, which may take days to weeks.
Bodies of six Air India plane crash victims handed over to relatives, say police.
Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a high-level meeting with ministers and senior officials in Ahmedabad to review the situation following the Air India crash. Discussions focus on rescue efforts, victim identification, and support measures for affected families.
Forensic team at the accident site on Friday; the medical college has been cordoned off.