Pilot's Last Message To ATC Was MayDay Before Air India Plane Crashed In Ahmedabad: Civil Aviation Ministry

New Delhi: The pilot, of the ill-fated Air India flight which crashed with 242 passengers onboard in Ahmedabad on Thursday, last Message To ATC was MayDay, the Civil Aviation Ministry informed in its first press conference after the nation witnessed its worst aviation disaster.

The London-bound Air India plane AI-171, which took off with 242 onboard on June 12 from the Ahmedabad's Sardal Vallahbhbhai Patel International Airport, crashed in a residential area within seconds after taking off. The Air India flight struggled to gain lift and had achieved an altitude of just 625 feet before it crashed into a doctor's hostel of a medical college in Ahmedabad.

Samir Kumar Sinha, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, during the presser said, “On June 12 around 2PM, we received the information that the plane going from Ahmedabad to Gatwick London had crashed. We immediately got detailed information about this through ATC Ahmedabad.”

“This was an AIC 171 and there were a total of 242 people on board, including 230 passengers, 2 pilots and 10 crew members. This plane took off at 1:39 PM and within a few seconds, after reaching a height of about 650 feet, it started sinking, i.e., it started losing height. At 1:39 pm, the pilot informed Ahmedabad ATC that it was a May Day, i.e., full emergency,” officials said.

The officials further informed that according to ATC, when it tried to contact the plane, it did not receive any response. Exactly after 1 minute, this plane crashed in Medhaninagar, which is located at a distance of about 2 km from the airport. The captain of the plane was Sumit Sabharwal and the first officer was Clive Sundar. As far as the entire history of the plane is concerned, before this accident, the plane had completed Paris-Delhi-Ahmedabad sector without any accident. Due to the accident, the runway was closed at 2:30 PM and after completing all the protocols, the runway of Ahmedabad was opened for limited flights from 5 PM."

Addressing the presser, Union Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said, “The last two days have been, very difficult. The accident that happened near Ahmedabad airport shook the entire nation. My deepest condolences to all the families who have lost their loved ones in the incident... I personally rushed to the site to oversee what needs to be done, what support needs to be provided and that was the attitude of the government of Gujarat also.”

Decoding of black box will give in depth into Air India plane crash: Civil Aviation Minister  

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu further informed that the decoding of the black box will give a in depth into what could have happened with the flight.

“The attitude was the same from Government of India and the other people at the ministry also. Once we rushed to the site, we already saw the response teams from all the concerned departments were working on ground, actively trying to rescue whatever is possible, trying to cut down the fire and to move the debris so that the bodies can be sent to the hospital at the earliest," Union Minister Ram Naidu Kinjarapu said.  

"Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which was formed specifically to look into the incidents, accidents that happen around aircrafts, was immediately mobilised. One important update from the technical investigation which is happening through the AAIB is the recovery of the black box yesterday around 5pm from the site, the AAIB team believes that this decoding of the black box is going to give a, in depth insight into what would have actually happened during the process of the crash or moments before the crash itself. We are also eagerly waiting for what the results or the report is going to be once the AAIB goes through its full investigation…" he added.