Air India Boeing 787 Crashes After Takeoff: Flight AI 171 Disaster

On June 12, 2025, Air India Flight AI171, a Boeing 787‑8 Dreamliner (registration VT‑ANB), crashed just seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s International Airport (AMD). The London Gatwick–bound flight departed at 1:39 PM local time and failed to gain altitude, ultimately slamming into the B. J. Medical College hostel complex in the Meghani Nagar district, killing at least 290 people on board and on the ground.

This marks the first fatal crash involving the Boeing 787 Dreamliner since the aircraft entered service nearly 15 years ago.

Flight AI171 was operated by a Boeing 787‑8 configured with 256 seats: 18 in business class and 238 in economy, and was reportedly about 90% full. There were 242 people on board , including two pilots and ten flight attendants. Among the passengers were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian.

Current casualty reports indicate that all 241 people on board, including the flight crew, were killed in the crash, along with at least 38 people on the ground. Dozens more on the ground were injured. These figures may still change as recovery and identification efforts continue.

Remarkably, there was one survivor. British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh , seated in 11A, managed to escape through a broken emergency exit and survived the impact. From his hospital bed, he described the moment: “I thought I would die… Everything happened in front of my eyes… I just jumped out.”

Several videos have surfaced showing the aircraft’s takeoff and the aftermath of the crash:

Chennai Flights
India Today

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) confirmed that the flight crew issued a MAYDAY call moments after takeoff. Although air traffic controllers responded immediately, there was no further communication from the aircraft before it vanished from radar and impacted the building. According to preliminary transcripts, these were the final words transmitted from the cockpit:

“Mayday, mayday, mayday… no thrust… losing power… unable to lift.”

Early footage, eyewitness accounts, and preliminary data all suggest that the aircraft failed to achieve proper lift during its initial climb. Investigators have noted that the landing gear was still fully deployed during the takeoff roll and that the flaps may have been retracted too early, resulting in insufficient lift.

Aviation analyst Captain Steve has speculated that the crash may have been caused by a cockpit configuration error, potentially involving a misstep where the crew retracted the flaps instead of the landing gear. This theory is being weighed alongside other possibilities such as engine thrust loss or mechanical failure.

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is leading the investigation, with support from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), UK AAIB, Boeing, and GE Aerospace. One of the aircraft’s black boxes has been recovered and is now undergoing analysis. Full insight will likely only emerge after both the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) have been downloaded and examined.

A number of viral videos are providing key clues. Video footage from News Arena India appears to show the aircraft failing to climb, with its landing gear still extended and no evidence of engine thrust. In one frame, the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) can be seen deployed beneath the fuselage — an emergency device that extends automatically in the event of a full loss of power. That detail, in particular, may prove critical to understanding what happened in those final seconds.

A recovery worker surveys the wreckage of Air India Flight AI171’s fuselage after it crashed into a residential hostel block in Ahmedabad

The crash of Flight AI171 marks the first-ever fatal accident involving a Boeing 787, a type that has had a strong safety record since entering service in 2011. The incident also stands as India’s deadliest aviation disaster in over three decades, and it has already sparked renewed questions about air safety standards, pilot training, and regulatory oversight at a time when Indian aviation is expanding rapidly.
Boeing, GE Aerospace, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other regulators are now facing heightened scrutiny — not only over this specific aircraft but across the global 787 fleet.

The devastating crash of Air India Flight AI171 — just 30 seconds into its takeoff roll — is a sobering reminder that even the most technologically advanced aircraft in the skies today are still vulnerable to small but catastrophic failures, whether mechanical or procedural.
For now, the exact cause remains speculative, and investigators will need time to review voice and flight data from the black boxes. But for the global aviation community and frequent flyers, this tragedy underscores the importance of constant vigilance, transparency, and improvement in aviation safety systems.

I will continue to update this post as new details emerge.