Only a full investigation into plane crash would determine cause of accident: Experts

Mumbai: Aviation industry experts on Friday said only a full investigation into the London-bound Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad would determine the cause of the accident and people should wait for the proper investigation to conclude.

The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft carrying 242 persons on board crashed into a medical college complex and burst into a ball of fire moments after take-off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday, killing 241 of the 242 people onboard in one of the country's worst air disasters. Air India is owned by Tata Group.

"If you look at the Dreamliner's history, notwithstanding controversies and various technical aspects in the past, it has served the aviation industry well. This is the first instance of a Dreamliner aircraft being involved in an accident," said Jitendra Bhargava, former executive director of Air India.

Every time or whenever an accident takes place, the standing operating procedures come in and this accident is not an exception, he said, adding, "Yes, the accident took place, but why it took place will need a full investigation".

"But as far as the cause of the accident is concerned, I'm very clear. I'm not going to hazard a guess or speculate that it could have possibly been a bird hit or it could have been because of a technical issue or a pilot or anything. Let's wait for the proper investigation, objective investigation to conclude." "So, my suggestion as an airline industry person has been that we must logically wait for the investigation to conclude and they come up with a clear thing," he stated.

Calling the accident "unfortunate", Sarosh Damania of Sarosh Damania and Co., said that at the time of takeoff itself, the aircraft had descended and crashed. "Now, as far as the flaps or engine is concerned, till we don't get the correct investigation report, we cannot speculate on it much".

From the black box data, we should be able to know what was wrong with the aircraft, as the Boeing 787 aircraft is a pretty modern-age aircraft, which comes equipped with a lot of sensors, machinery and automation apart from the pilot's input, Damania said.

"So, there are a lot of things which could have gone wrong in terms of technicalities or in terms of flap or engine controls is concerned. So, we have to await the investigation report on the black box, and whatever we get out of the black box recording, the data will tell us what actually transpired and what was the actual cause of the crash," he stated.