EXCLUSIVE: An aviation enthusiast says that one thing was immediately apparent after footage of the doomed Air India airliner emerged.

12:08, Thu, Jun 12, 2025 | UPDATED: 12:49, Thu, Jun 12, 2025

A crashed aeroplane on fire

The plane was carrying 242 people when it crashed shortly after take off (Image: AP)

A flight destined for London crashed shortly after takeoff this morning with 242 passengers on board, including 53 UK nationals. Footage circulating on social media shows the doomed airliner gliding towards the ground over a heavily residential area close to Ahmedabad airport in the west of India before bursting into flames.

The nature of the plane’s descent has led many to speculate over the cause of the disaster given its controlled nature. Jerry Dyer from Big Jet TV is an aviation enthusiast who regularly films planes taking off and landing from airports across the country and believes that the footage gives one telling indication of what could have happened. He told the Daily Express: “As soon as I saw it I recognised the flap settings straight away, that is the moving part of the wing that extends at the back.

A graphic showing location of a crash in India

The plane crashed shortly after leaving Ahmedabad airport in the west of India (Image: )

“From that video it seems that they were not extended and that means you do not have enough lift because the flaps increase the size of the wing and give the plane more lift.

“Without them you will not have any lift. It will take off but do so shallowly and lose altitude and ultimately crash. 

“That is something that the pilot controls. The pilot inputs the setting before takeoff. My biggest concern is I am sure that the systems on these aircraft are sophisticated so the system should shout back at the pilot if wrong.

“As soon as they applied throttle to takeoff, they would have had a warning I would imagine. There would have been fail safe measures in place to configure.”

“Whether it was a malfunction or human error we don’t know. It is not something that you can see as a pilot, you wouldn’t know. 

Rescue teams at site of a plane crash

Rescue teams continue to search for survivors (Image: AP)

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“It comes up on the screen on the flightdeck but who is to know that it showed the flaps were extended but they weren't?”

The cause of the crash remains unclear with rescue teams still working to identify any survivors and an inevitable in-depth investigation yet to commence.

According to Jerry, the plane is at its most vulnerable on take off due to it being at its heaviest

He added: “You have to remember the plane is very heavy at the point it crashes. It is flying from India to London so it has a full fuel tank and is full of passengers.

“From the pitch angle it looks like it is trying to land and that is the standard angle of attack when landing an aircraft but they would have had no opportunity even with engine full power to correct it if the flaps weren’t extended, the aircraft would not respond without the flap setting being correct.”