On June 12th, at 13:38 local time, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (VT-ANB) Air India with 242 people on-board, including 12 crew, crashed one minute after take-off from Ahmedabad airport. The 787 was operating fligth AI171 to London Gatwick.
Follow Aeronews on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bluesky and TikTok
Update / Air India confirmed on X (see screenshots at the end of the article) that only 1 of the 242 people on-board survived. He was seated in 11A, close to an emergency exit, and is being treated in a hospital.
Update / FR24: “Additional processing confirms AI171 departed using the full length of runway 23 at Ahmedabad. RWY 23 is 11,499 feet long. The aircraft backtracked to the end of the runway before beginning its take-off roll.”
Initial story / Air India confirms that flight AI171, from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, was involved in an accident today after take-off. This is the first crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the model’s history.
“The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 13:38 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on-board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals.
The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals. We have also set up a dedicated passenger hotline number 1800 5691 444 to provide more information. Air India is giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident.”
According to FR24, the signal from the aircraft was lost at 08:08 UTC (13:38 local time) at 625 feet, less than a minute after take off.
Initial ADS-B data from flight AI171 shows that the aircraft reached a maximum barometric altitude of 625 feet (airport altitude is about 200 feet) and then it started to descend with an vertical speed of -475 feet per minute.
First flight of the aircraft was on 14 December 2013 and it was delivered to Air India in January 2014.
Follow us on x.com/AeronewsGlobal, Facebook and LinkedIn for more updates on this.
