BENGALURU/SINGAPORE – The aviation world is still reeling from the devastating crash of Air India Flight AI171, and investigators are now exploring the possibility that a bird strike may have played a critical role in the tragedy that claimed over 290 lives.
The ill-fated Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route to London Gatwick from Ahmedabad, went down just minutes after take-off on June 12, plunging the nation — and many families around the world — into mourning. Only one person is confirmed to have survived the catastrophic accident.
Experts say the aircraft, with a strong safety record, would have required an extreme and sudden failure to crash from such a low altitude — about 600 feet. “If a plane of this calibre and size crashes shortly after take-off, something catastrophic must have occurred,” said Hemanth DP, CEO of Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy in Hyderabad.
A mayday call from the pilot was received before the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control. While the exact cause remains unknown, one scenario being explored is a bird strike — a frequent but usually manageable risk in aviation.
“Bird strikes typically happen during take-off or landing, when planes are flying low,” explained Hemanth. “It would take a very large flock, with both engines affected, to bring a plane down so quickly.”
Aviation consultant Michael Daniel highlighted the importance of the aircraft’s mayday transmission in the investigation. “Video footage shows the landing gear was still down and flaps retracted — that’s not normal unless something seriously affected the take-off sequence,” he noted.
He added that black box data and the cockpit voice recorder will be crucial to understanding what really happened in those final moments.
The crash draws painful comparisons to other recent aviation disasters, such as the Jeju Air tragedy in South Korea in late 2024, where a bird strike led to 179 fatalities, and the 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 emergency landing in the Hudson River.
As search teams work tirelessly at the crash site, and families wait in anguish for answers, one thing is clear: this isn’t just a technical investigation. It’s a human story — of lives lost, of a flight that never reached its destination, and of a global community asking, “How could this happen?”
