Most of the civil airports in the country are located very close to cities, with an urban profusion of residential buildings, warehouses, hotels, eateries, butcheries, and waste dumping grounds. Birds, sometimes large ones like vultures and eagles, come looking for food near these locations. Offal and waste attract birds. They are a potential hazard to the aviation industry, causing loss of lives and disruption to flight schedules.

At many locations, there are tall buildings bearing hoardings, which interfere with the mandatory second segment climb gradient of 3 per cent for four-engine aeroplanes and also the Instrument Landing Systems, where the descent path is a minimum of 3 degrees. In the first segment, the aircraft thrust and climb gradient are factored in to clear any obstacle at the periphery of the take-off area. The second segment refers to the climb after the landing gear is retracted, and the flight is usually 400 feet above ground level. Non-compliance of the second segment climb penalises the load of the flight.

On every runway there is an undershoot area and an overshoot area. Undershoot is in case the aircraft is coming in very low to land and the area needs to be clear of obstacles. For the AI 171 there was practically no overshoot area. This is a very clear violation of civil aviation rules and laws governing the Civil Aviation Act.

For instance, in Mumbai, on the right side of Runway 27, there are two-to-three-storey structures which pose imminent danger to incoming and outgoing aircraft. Moreover, from these buildings, it is possible to train basic firearms on the aircraft that are coming in or going out.

In Ahmedabad, on June 12, 2025, AI 171, registered as VT ANB, crashed soon after take-off ahead of runway 23, just after 1.5 kilometres. From a video clip, it appears that the aeroplane flew straight up to an altitude of 625 feet (as reported by all news channels) or a height of 435 feet, Ahmedabad runway being 190 feet above mean sea level, and dipped its nose to crash, bursting into flames. 

All along the take-off path, her undercarriage was in extended position, an unusual condition since at approximately 50 feet height after lift-off, the PF (pilot flying) calls out ‘positive rate of climb, gear up’, and the PNF (pilot not flying) moves the gear lever from down to up position.

In this flight, Capt. Sumit Sabharwal was the PF. With the hydraulic pressure, the three sets of the undercarriage bogies move into the wheel well bays, and respective doors shut, covering all the bogies. After ensuring that the retraction cycle is complete, the gear handle is moved to the neutral position. The undercarriage now is in a flush condition with the body of the aeroplane.

There are reports that the pilot’s last call to Air Traffic Control was ‘MAYDAY MAYDAY (x 3) no power, unable to lift up’, pointing out that the aircraft had lost power on both engines.

AI 171 then continued straight ahead and glided into the medical college hostel at a speed of 174 knots with 1.25 lakh litres of aviation turbine fuel, bursting into flames, taking the toll over 270—229 passengers, 12 crew members, and possibly over 40 collateral medicos dining in the mess.

There can be many reasons for the undercarriage being extended all the way and thereafter losing both engines simultaneously.

Prima facie, one of the reasons can be entering a flock of big birds, some of them ingested by both engines.

A slight yaw to change direction by the aircraft is also noticeable in the video of the plane’s last moments. It could have been to avoid birds in front, which he couldn’t, and he lost the total engine.

Another reason can be the malfunction of the fuel electronic system, which stopped the fuel supply to engines, and the pilot could not switch to an alternate manual method, being at low height and in the utter lack of time with the aircraft gliding headlong into the building.

There can be many reasons for not retracting the undercarriage. Plausibly there was some kind of distraction on their instrument panels, and they forgot about raising the gears, and soon after, she lost both engines.

Or the hydraulic system failed and gears could not be retracted, and she lost both engines subsequently, or the electric signal to move gears was lost. The fact remains that with both the engines working, the aircraft can climb to 20,000 feet with an unretracted undercarriage and cover distances as well.

News channels are abuzz with many speculations and theories by aviation experts.

Human error on the part of pilots ought to be ruled out, since there were only about 30 seconds from the lift-off to the crash. With regard to the fitness of the pilots, they have to undergo stringent medical tests every 6 months and refresher technical courses, besides simulator tests periodically to renew their flying licences. Their physical, mental and technical knowledge levels are very sound.

The aeroplanes, too, are subjected to various checks periodically, as per their check schedules and post-flight checks. In addition, the pilots carry out preflight checks to their satisfaction before accepting the aeroplane for the flight.

One theory of raising flaps instead of the gear lever is highly improbable, as both pilots were qualified and had enough experience.

The take-off and landing are the most critical phases of a flight, where the pilots, in unison and synergy with all their faculties working at optimum level, handle a machine which has been tested to perform for all requirements of the airline. Both sets are on an optimum level of efficiency and operating as per protocol and SOP (standard operating procedure) set by the manufacturer and the operating airline.