Another Air India incident.

[drron]

A B737 of Air India clipped a brick wall on take off.
Boeing 737 flies into brick wall, keeps going with damaged underbelly

 

[RooFlyer]

Strewth

 

[Quickstatus]

Sheesh!.

Has anyone bought this airline off the Govt of India?

 

[juddles]

And we all complain about another airline being "consistently inconsistent"

 

[Quickstatus]

And we all complain about another airline being "consistently inconsistent"

So far this airline has been consistently consistent

 

[Mattg]

There's some discussion on the Aviation Herald article about the fact the pilots elected to fly for over 4 hours after hitting the wall. Some commenters are speculating that the pilots knew they'd made a big mistake (e.g. taking off without flaps) and may have intentionally kept flying for long enough to override the CVR. This is pure speculation, but why else would they not return immediately? Surely they must have known something was wrong?

 

[juddles]

So far this airline has been consistently consistent

It actually amazes me that an airline that serves the second biggest country in the world (and growing - both in numbers and affluence) cannot be run profitably.

 

[juddles]

There's some discussion on the Aviation Herald article about the fact the pilots elected to fly for over 4 hours after hitting the wall. Some commenters are speculating that the pilots knew they'd made a big mistake (e.g. taking off without flaps) and may have intentionally kept flying for long enough to override the CVR. This is pure speculation, but why else would they not return immediately? Surely they must have known something was wrong?

This is probably a question for Aviatorinsight or JB747 - just how obvious would the damage be to someone in the coughpit? I dare say there would be no noise from it, and despite the "dings" and the gouge in the fuselage asper the "dramatic" photos, these were in soft tissue and would have happened in a millisecond.

 

[Mattg]

This is probably a question for Aviatorinsight or JB747 - just how obvious would the damage be to someone in the coughpit? I dare say there would be no noise from it, and despite the "dings" and the gouge in the fuselage asper the "dramatic" photos, these were in soft tissue and would have happened in a millisecond.

I would have thought the fact they were 305 metres past the end of the runway and less than 1.5 metres off the ground would have been a giveaway that something was wrong? But it's quite possible that I'm missing something.

Any thoughts @jb747 ?

 

[Quickstatus]

It actually amazes me that an airline that serves the second biggest country in the world (and growing - both in numbers and affluence) cannot be run profitably.

Does not amaze me.
Too much debt after merger with Indian Airlines. Then increased competition.

Most of the Indian airlines are deeply in debt. The only one that is profitable is Indigo (IIRC)

 

[juddles]

the gouge in the fuselage...... would have happened in a millisecond.

just to put some actual physics behind my viewpoint, the gash in the rear of the fuselage appears to be about 5 metres long. Using a 737's takeoff speed of about 250 kmh, which is about 70 metres per second, the time of contact between the plane and the wall was about 0.07 seconds. I truly doubt the pilots would have heard nor felt anything, and there would have been zero effect on the controls or flight of the aircraft.

 

[dajop]

Gosh, I took two domestic flights on Air India last week (Vistara weren't on the routes I flew).

But, I can take some meagre solace in the fact this incident and the tragic accident in 2010 that killed 158 passengers on board where both operated not by Air India, but by the wholly owned subsidiary, IX - Air India Express (Air India's LCC - its version of Jetstar). Apart from trying to fix the safety issues, I'd be rebranding that subsidary ASAP.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Most of the Indian airlines are deeply in debt. The only one that is profitable is Indigo (IIRC)

The debt seems to be the problem. According to the Times of India, Air india actually made an operating profit of USD40.5m (Rs 298.03 crore). But the net loss was around USD785m (largely due to debt). If I've got the gigures right. Full article here: Air India operating profit more than doubles to Rs 298 crore in FY17 - Times of India

(And what a cash infusion from the Indian government! Around USD4 billion over 2012-2021)

 

[Quickstatus]

I would have thought the fact they were 305 metres past the end of the runway and less than 1.5 metres off the ground would have been a giveaway that something was wrong? But it's quite possible that I'm missing something.

Any thoughts @jb747 ?

The incident has been discussed a bit in the “Ask a Pilot” thread

 

[Quickstatus]

just to put some actual physics behind my viewpoint, the gash in the rear of the fuselage appears to be about 5 metres long. Using a 737's takeoff speed of about 250 kmh, which is about 70 metres per second, the time of contact between the plane and the wall was about 0.07 seconds. I truly doubt the pilots would have heard nor felt anything, and there would have been zero effect on the controls or flight of the aircraft.

The Brisbane times article suggests the collision was “audible” and “obvious”. How a journalist would know is beyond me. Apparently they have superpowers.

Though it is also reported that the pilots were informed about the collision but dismissed it ??. Hard to know as reporting about such matters is usually wildly inaccurate

 

[Mattg]

The Brisbane times article suggests the collision was “audible” and “obvious”. How a journalist would know is beyond me. Apparently they have superpowers.

Though it is also reported that the pilots were informed about the collision but dismissed it ??. Hard to know as reporting about such matters is usually wildly inaccurate

So they dismissed the report... but later diverted to BOM?

Something doesn't add up.

 

[Quickstatus]

So they dismissed the report... but later diverted to BOM?

Something doesn't add up.

My readings suggests they initially dismissed it but later were further informed by someone so they turned around. Other forums suggest they continued flight in order for the FDR/CVR to write over

Reporting is still a bit speculative so that’s basically what I’m doing too

 

[Flying Fox]

Additional reporting -

Shock photo reveals plane nightmare

Additional pics - glad that they landed safely.

That's a very low wall if that is a person's arm/shoulder in white on the right hand side of this pic.

 

[Happy Trails]

And there was this a few days ago:

An Air India flight attendant has been injured after falling from the door of a parked aeroplane at India's Mumbai airport.
In an unfortunate incident, one of our cabin crew (members), Harsha Lobo, fell down on the tarmac from the Boeing-777 aircraft door while closing it," the airline said.

Air India flight attendant falls from plane

 

[SeatBackForward]

It actually amazes me that an airline that serves the second biggest country in the world (and growing - both in numbers and affluence) cannot be run profitably.

Corruption, nepotism, inefficiency...