Ahmedabad plane crash: Pilot issued Mayday call before crash; what is it?

AHMEDABAD: The aviator of the Air India formation that crashed soon aft takeoff from Ahmedabad connected Thursday had issued a Mayday telephone earlier the craft mislaid interaction with aerial postulation control, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.

The London-bound formation had 242 radical connected board.The Boeing 787 aircraft, operating arsenic Flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, went down astir 2pm successful the Meghaninagar area, adjacent to the airdrome perimeter. It had taken disconnected astatine 1:39pm from runway 23."Air India B787 Aircraft VT-ANB, portion operating formation AI-171 from (Ahmedabad to Gatwick) has crashed instantly aft takeoff from Ahmedabad. There were 242 radical connected committee the aircraft, consisting of 2 pilots and 10 compartment crew.

The craft was nether the bid of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar," Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said successful a statement.

The DGCA connection confirmed that Captain Sumeet Sabharwal commanded formation gave a Mayday telephone to Air Traffic Control (ATC). "Captain Sumeet Sabharwal is an LTC with 8200 hours of experience. The copilot had 1100 hours of flying experience. As per ATC, the craft departed from Ahmadabad astatine 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from runway 23.

It gave a MAYDAY Call to ATC, but thereafter, nary effect was fixed by the craft to the calls made by ATC.

Aircraft instantly aft departure from Runway 23, fell connected the crushed extracurricular the airdrome perimeter. Heavy achromatic fume was seen coming from the mishap site," it added.Several injured passengers were taken to the metropolis civilian hospital, quality bureau PTI reported. Authorities are yet to corroborate the fig of casualties.

Rescue and probe operations are ongoing.Follow unrecorded updates

What is Mayday call?

"Mayday" is an internationally recognized distress awesome utilized successful emergencies by pilots, mariners, and different professionals to petition contiguous assistance. It signifies a life-threatening situation, specified arsenic a superior method issue, accident, oregon imminent information to the unit oregon passengers.The word "Mayday" comes from the French operation "m'aider," which means "help me." Pilots usage it implicit vigor to alert aerial postulation power oregon adjacent craft erstwhile they request urgent assistance. It signals an exigency that requires contiguous attraction and precedence effect from authorities oregon rescue teams.