Air India Pilot’s Last Words to Air Traffic Control Before Crash That Killed 241 Passengers Released

• On June 21, Air India Flight 171, bound for London, crashed moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport, killing more than 270 people
• According to a recent briefing by Indian aviation authorities, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the flight's pilot, sent a mayday distress call
• Samir Kumar Sinha, a secretary for India’s aviation ministry, disclosed this on June 14 and noted that seconds later, radio contact was lost

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

'Mayday, mayday', was the final radio message sent by the pilot of the Air India plane bound for London, moments before the flight crashed, killing more than 270 people.

Air India pilot sends mayday to control

The captain of the doomed Air India flight warned air traffic control that his engine was losing power, just moments before crashing into a building.

The plane piloted by Sumeet Sabharwal and his co-pilot Clive Kundar lost altitude moments after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport on June 12.

In a briefing by India’s aviation authorities on June 14, authorities confirmed that Captain Sabharwal sent a distress call less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport at 1.39 pm.

When air traffic control responded to the pilot’s emergency mayday call, there was no response," said Samir Kumar Sinha, a secretary for India’s aviation ministry.

As reported by The Guardian, he added that the plane went down seconds later, with only one passenger escaping alive.

Speaking further, Sinha explained that initial investigations showed the plane had reached a height of 650ft after takeoff, after which it began to descend rapidly and hit the ground in Meghani Nagar, around two kilometres from the airfield.

Air India crash: plane's black box recovered

According to reports released on Saturday, the 227-tonne plane crashed into a hostel where medical students and their families were living.

All but one of the 242 people on board were killed in one of India’s worst aviation disasters in decades.

The collision with the hostel also killed at least four student doctors and one doctor’s wife, who was heavily pregnant, as well as several labourers and vendors working in the area.

Sinha said the flight data recorder, known as the black box, had been recovered and was being looked into by investigators. A complete assessment of the incident would be completed within three months.

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Air India crash: expert details standard response

A Nigerian air traffic controller, Promise Orolisen, has shed light on the critical universal role played by Air Traffic Control (ATC) during aviation emergencies, following the tragic Air India crash.

“To ensure the aircraft's safe passage, ATC manages the airspace by clearing runways, taxiways, and surrounding zones, rerouting or delaying other aircraft as needed,” Orolisen told Legit.ng.

“We also alert airport rescue and firefighting services, local emergency teams, and hospitals, providing them with essential details about the emergency. Throughout this process, we provide navigational guidance and critical information to the pilot, such as weather conditions and runway status."

He noted that once the emergency was resolved, the ATC logged all communications and actions for investigation and assisted in coordinating search and rescue operations if the aircraft was lost or had crashed.

Air India: DNA samples to identify victims

Legit.ng also reported that some families broke down in uncontrollable tears as they were asked to submit DNA samples to help identify their loved said to have died in the tragic Air India crash.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route to Gatwick Airport in London, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, India, on June 12, 2025.

Editorial assistant Ololade Olatimehin provided exclusive commentary from an ATC expert for this report.

Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng