‘Multiple bird hits’ may have caused deadly Air India plane crash, says expert

The deadly Air India plane crash may have been caused by a bird strike, according to a former pilot.

The Boeing 787, bound for London, crashed with 242 people on board shortly after departing from Ahmedabad airport in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Thursday.

A police chief told the Associated Press there appeared to be no survivors.

Saurabh Bhatnagar told New Delhi Television that the incident appears to have involved “multiple bird hits”.

He said: “It looks, prima facie, like a case of multiple bird hits wherein both the engines have lost power.”

Mr Bhatnagar added that the “take-off was perfect” but shortly before retracting the landing gear, the aircraft began to descend.

He believes this indicates a loss of engine power or lift.

“Obviously, the investigation will reveal the exact reason,” he added.

Mr Bhatnagar noted that video of the incident indicates the plane “came down in a controlled fashion”.

Bird strikes are defined as a collision between a bird and an aircraft which is in flight, taking-off or landing.

A large flock of birds entering an aircraft engine can cause power loss.

Efforts to reduce the number of bird strikes on planes include using lights on aircraft to make them more visible to birds, and making loud noises at airports to scare them away.

Latest Civil Aviation Authority figures show there were 1,432 incidents reported in the UK in 2022.

Professor John McDermid, of the University of York, said it was too early to know “in any detail” what may have caused the Air India incident, but the timing suggests the issue happened “very suddenly”.

He said: “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”.

Graham Braithwaite, the director of aerospace and aviation at Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, said take-off is a “critical stage of flight” as the plane is accelerating and “any problem-solving requires a rapid response”.

Paul Williams, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading, said the weather conditions at the airport when the crash happened “appear to have been very good”.

He added: “It was a dry and sunny day in Ahmedabad, with temperatures near 40C.

“There was good visibility and light winds from the west.

“There was no bad weather in the vicinity.

“There is no indication at this stage that turbulence or other weather conditions were a factor in the crash.”

The accident 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.