【India Air Crash】Captain with 22 Years of Flying Experience, Experts Speculate 3 Causes of the Accident

(India 13th News) Regarding this air crash, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) interviewed multiple aviation experts and resident pilots in India, arriving at three potential causes for the crash.
The report mentions that both the captain and the co-pilot have extremely rich flying experience, with the captain having 22 years of experience as a commercial aviation pilot.
India's aviation regulatory body stated that the cockpit issued a Mayday distress signal almost immediately after takeoff, with no further response thereafter. The reason for the distress signal remains unclear, but the flight's sole survivor told Indian media that he heard a loud bang when the plane was ascending.

The footage verified by the BBC verification team shows the airliner flying low over a residential area. The last transmitted data indicated the aircraft reached an altitude of 190 meters before beginning its descent and disappearing behind trees and buildings, eventually resulting in a huge explosion on the horizon. "If both engines fail simultaneously, the crew have no reaction time," commented a pilot. The CCTV footage verified by the BBC shows the plane remained airborne for only 30 seconds.
It is almost impossible to determine the cause of the air crash based solely on the brief takeoff footage. In the coming days, a complex investigation will be launched, including analysis of the black box data and wreckage examination. However, the footage shows that the aircraft clearly lacked power upon liftoff, leading some experts to speculate a very rare simultaneous failure of both engines.
Aviation circles question whether the aircraft activated the ram air turbine (RAT), an emergency backup turbine that kicks in when the main engines cannot supply power to critical systems. Cases of dual-engine failure are virtually unheard of, the most famous being the "Miracle on the Hudson" in 2009, when a US Airways Airbus A320 lost both engines after a bird strike shortly after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport, ultimately making a successful water landing.
A senior pilot told the BBC that fuel contamination or blockage could also cause dual-engine failure.
Some Indian experts propose another possibility: a bird strike. When an aircraft collides with birds, it can pose a serious hazard, potentially leading to power loss if birds are ingested into the engines.
Experts and pilots familiar with Ahmedabad Airport told the BBC that the airport is "notorious for its bird problems, with birds everywhere."
In the 2009 Hudson River incident, the bird ingestion occurred at an altitude of 2,700 feet, more than four times higher than the Indian flight. This time, the Indian pilots had neither the altitude nor the time for emergency maneuvers. However, a senior pilot emphasized, "Unless both engines are affected simultaneously, bird strikes rarely result in catastrophic outcomes."
Three experts interviewed by the BBC verification team speculated that the accident could be due to the flaps not extending during takeoff, though other pilots and analysts disagreed. Flaps are crucial during the takeoff phase, helping the plane generate maximum lift at low speeds.
If not correctly extended, a fully-loaded passenger plane with fuel for a long-haul flight and in a high-temperature environment would struggle to take off smoothly. A pilot explained to the BBC that on the 12th, the temperature in Ahmedabad approached 40 degrees, requiring a higher flap setting and stronger engine thrust; under such conditions, even a slight configuration error could trigger a disaster.
Footage from CCTV released on the evening of the 12th showed the aircraft struggling to climb after taking off from Ahmedabad, then slowly descending until it crashed. However, one interviewed pilot noted that if taking off with retracted flaps, the 787's takeoff warning system (TOWS) would trigger an alert to inform the pilot of a potentially fatal error in the aircraft's takeoff configuration.