Passenger’s chilling video ‘shows ‘nothing working’ from air con to TV screens on doomed Air India jet hours before Gatwick-bound flight crashed in deadly fireball’

An Air India passenger has shared video claiming to show electrical fittings including air conditioning and TV screens not working on the jet he was travelling on – just hours before it crashed in a deadly fireball.

Akash Vatsa, who said he was on the plane during its previous flight from Dehli to Ahmedabad, shared video on X showing what he described as ‘unusual things in the plane.’ 

He shared pictures of the plane showing it’s registration code – VT-ANB – which appears to match that of the crashed plane.

Flight data showed how the Boeing Dreamliner flew in from Delhi to the western city of Ahmedabad this morning. 

Flight 171 departed for London Gatwick after 1pm local time, but crashed in a deadly fireball just moments after takeoff. There are believed to be no survivors and more casualties are expected on the ground.

After news of the horror crash emerged, Vatsa shared videos which he said showed in-flight facilities not working during the jet’s previous journey.

‘The AC is not working at all. As usual, their TV screens are also not working, neither is the button to call the cabin crew,’ he says in the clip. ‘Nothing is working, nothing. Not even the light is working.’

He said he filmed the video to make a complaint to Air India, but instead shared it to highlight the issues with the plane after today’s crash.

Vatsa told Indian news outlet NDTV that because the flight number got changed, ‘the passengers with a connecting flight to London had to deboard, come to the departure gate and had to board again’.

The cause of air disaster – the worst India has seen for decades – is still being determined.

Possible causes of the tragedy could include a rapid change in wind causing an engine stall, or a bird strike on both engines. 

The flight issued a mayday call before crashing ‘immediately after takeoff’, around 1.40 pm (0810 GMT), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. 

Video showed the plane rapidly descending into a residential area with a high nose angle and landing gear deployed before it crashed. 

The heavy fuel load carried by the aircraft for its long-haul journey to London is believed to have intensified the post-crash fire.

Footage shows a fireball erupting as the plane collided with a residential building which accommodates doctors at the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital.

Authorities confirmed that no one is believed to have survived the crash, while rescuers told reporters at the scene that they had recovered dozens of bodies of people inside buildings that the plane smashed into as it came down. 

Officials from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau attended the scene to carry out an analysis of the wreckage and retrieve the stricken jet’s black box. 

Lt. Col. John R. Davidson, a former US Air Force pilot and commercial aviation safety consultant, said the plane appeared to have reached takeoff speed but not altitude, according to flight data, suggesting ‘either a very late rotation or a stall shortly after takeoff’.

‘There are a number of possible scenarios: thrust or engine performance issues, excessive aircraft weight, poor trim or flap configuration, or a more critical failure that affected the aircraft’s ability to climb,’ he said.

‘Weather, windshear or even bird strike can’t be ruled out either at this early stage.’

Captain Saurabh Bhatnagar, a former senior pilot, told NDTV that circulating footage showing the plane’s terrifying descent ‘looked like a case of multiple bird hits wherein both the engines have lost power’.

‘The takeoff was perfect,’ he said. ‘And just, I believe, short of taking the gear up, the aircraft started descending, which can happen only in case the engine loses power or the aircraft stops developing lift.’ 

Aviation expert Sanjay Lazar noted that the Dreamliner was only 11 years old, so was unlikely to have underlying technical issues.

A bird strike ‘would explain why the aircraft did not have the power to lift,’ he said. ‘If there were multiple bird hits on take-off, it probably could not have gone beyond the 6-7 minute threshold and started falling.’ 

Davidson explained that the low altitude and high speed reading at the final moment might indicate a ‘steep nose-down trajectory or a stall event’ just after takeoff.

‘This is consistent with accidents like Spanair Flight 5022 and Flydubai Flight 981, where mechanical or environmental factors combined with compromised lift performance led to loss of control during or just after liftoff,’ he said.

The former pilot noted: ‘Flight data alone isn’t enough to determine fault — but it tells us this aircraft never truly made it airborne in a meaningful way. 

‘Whatever happened, it happened fast, and right at the most critical phase of flight.’

The plane was under the command of experienced pilot Captain Summeet Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of experience. 

US planemaker Boeing said it was ‘working to gather more information’ on the incident and that it was ready to support Air India.

A source close to the case said this was the first time a 787 Dreamliner had crashed.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the pride of the US company’s catalog for long-distance planes: a fuel-efficient, wide-body, lightweight aircraft able to transport up to 330 people.

Air India ordered 100 more Airbus planes last year after a giant contract in 2023 for 470 aircraft – 250 Airbus and 220 Boeing.