Air India crash: Aviation expert reveals detail that left doomed plane’s pilot ‘no choice | World | News
India’s aviation regulator confirmed that the aircraft sent a mayday call to air traffic control but received no response thereafter. The crash occurred in a residential area known as Meghani Nagar. According to police statements given to ANI news agency, the plane struck a doctors’ hostel.
Now Rhys Jones, aviation editor, Head for Points explained how the pilots have “very few options” at the time of take-offs.
He told The Express: “Take-off is one of the most dangerous phases of flight, with higher risk than cruise or landing. If something goes wrong, as appears to have tragically happened here, pilots have very few options open to them.
“Increasing the power of the engines to try and gain altitude is not possible, as the aircraft is already at or near maximum thrust as part of its initial climb.”
Speaking specifically about this incident, Mr Jones said that the pilot had no choice but to “perform a controlled crash landing”.
He said: “Equally, the low altitude immediately after take-off means that your glide-path is limited. Whilst aircraft are designed to glide for miles without engines, this requires a significant starting altitude – something that an aircraft that has taken off does not have.
“In this case, it appears an issue occurred at 600ft – less than 200m – which means the pilots cannot circle around and attempt an emergency landing at the airport.
“They may have had no choice except to perform a controlled crash landing in a residential area, as appears to be the case based on the footage available so far.”
