‘She said she’d return’: Final moments of pilots and crew who went down with doomed Air India flight
‘Unable to lift’: Pilot’s desperate mayday call as Air India plane went down
- The captain of an Air India flight that crashed in Gujarat issued a desperate mayday call reporting a loss of power and thrust shortly after takeoff.
- Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a highly experienced pilot with more than 8,200 flying hours, died alongside 241 others when the London Gatwick-bound plane smashed into a building on Thursday morning.
- “Mayday,” Sabharwal said in a desperate last call to air traffic controllers as the aircraft struggled to gain altitude after leaving the runway. “No thrust, losing power, unable to lift.”
- The sole survivor, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, described a loud noise 30 seconds after takeoff, before the plane crashed.
- First Officer Clive Kunder, assisting Captain Sabharwal, was certified to operate the Boeing 787 but had not yet logged the required 1,500 flying hours to qualify as a commander.