‘Pilots were probably distracted by unexpected emergency’: Gaurav Taneja, aka Flying Beast, explains possible cause of dual engine failure on Ahmedabad Air India flight

Taneja went on to explain that the absence of a warning at take-off suggests the aircraft systems were likely functioning normally at first. “So, if there was no such warning at take-off, that means there was no major error in the aircraft or its systems. Aircraft usually take off as part of a routine, once you cross 100 or 400 feet, you put the autopilot on. In this case, I don’t know whether the pilots had time to do that. The landing gear was still down. The usual procedure is: you take off, confirm there is a positive rate of climb, and then the pilot flying calls it out, and the gear is taken up. But here, the gears were left down, indicating that right after take-off there was some emergency. The pilots were distracted, they were trying to solve that problem. There was no time or perhaps no confirmation of a positive rate of climb, and the aircraft was sinking, about 400 feet per minute.”

Reflecting on emergency training scenarios, Taneja added: “In the simulator, we’ve done so many exercises after take-off, so many emergency scenarios. But we’ve never practiced a dual engine failure right after take-off. And when you’re taking off from a city that’s right in the heart of the city, there are buildings in front of you, you can’t do anything. If it were a desert or a stretch of plain farmland, I could still try to land the aircraft there. But when there are buildings and highways, what do I do? I have no training for that. I’ve been through such simulated situations. The instructor puts us through it just to show how terrifying it can be. And at the end of the scenario, the instructor finally ‘saves’ the aircraft, just to make the point, and we all exhale and say, ‘Thank God, it’s a sim.’ But what if it’s a real aircraft? It’s a pilot’s nightmare: both engines not responding.”

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He also addressed what the crash does not appear to be. “It doesn’t look like a stall, because the angle of attack wasn’t that high. It doesn’t seem like a compressor stall either, as far as I can tell, because in a compressor stall, you don’t lose total power. If you’re taking off at 100% thrust, and something causes a compressor stall, you still retain 30% or 40% engine power. The engine doesn’t go completely dead. And even if one engine fails entirely, aircraft are still certified to fly safely with just one engine. At least that would give you enough to circle back and land safely. So this is very unfortunate. Everyone is wondering what went wrong, because this is something we’ve never seen in this industry.”

On the day of the crash, Taneja had posted his immediate thoughts on his account on X (formerly Twitter), suggesting a rare and severe technical issue. “Looks like a Dual Engine Failure after Take Off. Nothing short of a complete power loss can force a modern aircraft into that kind of sink rate, right after take off. Praying for everyone on board,” he wrote.

Looks like a Dual Engine Failure after Take Off.
Nothing short of a complete power loss can force an modern aircraft into that kind of sink rate, right after take off.

Praying for everyone on board #AirIndiaCrash

— Gaurav Taneja (@flyingbeast320) June 12, 2025

Taneja is known for creating content that explains aviation topics to a wider audience, including detailed breakdowns of air accidents. A pilot for over 10 years, he previously worked as a captain at AirAsia. In 2020, he became a whistleblower, accusing the airline of compromising safety by pressuring pilots to conduct risky landings and penalizing them for taking mandated rest days. His YouTube video on the issue has since garnered over 10 million views.

An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick with 242 people on board crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday afternoon. Besides those onboard, at least 24 people, including four medical students, were killed on the ground, as the plane crashed into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College in the Meghani Nagar area. While one person survived, most passengers were Indian, along with 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani (68), who was headed to London to meet his daughter, was among the people who lost their lives in the crash.