On June 12, 2025, Air India Flight AI171 tragically crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, India. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was en route to London Gatwick with 242 people on board, including passengers and crew. Only one passenger, a British national named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived. The crash also claimed the lives of eight people on the ground, including four medical students. Shortly after liftoff at 13:39 local time, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a veteran pilot with over 8,000 flying hours, issued a desperate mayday call stating the aircraft had “no thrust” and was “unable to lift.” The plane reached just 625 feet before plummeting in a fiery explosion. Video footage captured a large plume of smoke rising from the impact site.

Initial speculation by aviation experts points to a potential cockpit error. Captain Steve, a commercial airline pilot and YouTuber, suggested the co-pilot may have accidentally retracted the flaps instead of raising the landing gear during takeoff. If true, this would have drastically reduced lift and airspeed, leading to a rapid loss of altitude. Supporting this theory, retired British Airways pilot Alastair Rosenschein noted the landing gear appeared to remain down and the flap settings looked incorrect, indicating a possible aerodynamic failure. Survivor Ramesh recounted hearing a loud noise 30 seconds after takeoff and described escaping the wreckage through debris. Investigations are ongoing, but early expert analysis suggests a devastating but potentially preventable in-flight error.