Air India crash: Simulation reveals why plane may have failed to stay airborne

Video footage of the aircraft showed the plane was struggling to gain altitude after taking off

As the investigation into the London-bound Air India plane that crashed soon after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport continues, it has been claimed that dual engine failure may have prevented the Boeing Dreamliner 787 from staying airborne.

At least 270 people, including all but one of the 242 passengers and crew members on board the Ahmedabad-London Gatwick flight AI-171, were killed on June 12.

A report by Bloomberg stated that pilots from the airline reenacted the doomed aircraft’s parameters in a flight simulator, including with the landing gear deployed and the wing flaps retracted, and found those settings alone didn’t cause a crash.

The simulated flight was conducted separately from the official probe being led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Various reports suggested that AAIB may release the first official report and its preliminary findings later this week or early next week.

According to the Bloomberg report, an analysis of the wreckage suggested the wing flaps and slats, which help an aircraft increase lift during takeoff, were extended correctly.

The investigation revealed that those settings alone didn’t cause the crash.  The Bloomberg report stated that the probability has now shifted the focus on a technical failure as one possible cause.

The aircraft was powered by two engines made by General Electric Co. Video footage of the aircraft showed the plane was struggling to gain altitude after taking off, and then sank back to the ground, where it exploded.

“The pilots, who died in the crash, sent out a Mayday signal shortly after takeoff. There were only about 15 seconds between the distress call and impact,” two people familiar with the investigation told Bloomberg. Teams from Boeing and the US National Transportation Safety Board are supporting the investigation on the ground.

According to the Centre, the process of data extraction from the black boxes was started on June 24 with a team of Indian and US experts, including members from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

“The Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the front black box was safely retrieved, and on 25 June 2025, the memory module was successfully accessed and its data downloaded at the AAIB lab,” the civil aviation ministry said in a recent statement.

Meanwhile, Tata Sons held its first board meet after the Air India plane crash, where chairman N Chandrasekaran apprised the group leadership about the tragedy.

Chandrasekaran updated the board about the relief efforts and other aspects undertaken by the group since then, as per a PTI report. Tata Sons will be working with its majority shareholder Tata Trusts for furthering the relief efforts to those affected in the tragedy.