Writing from St. Barths, FWI — An Air India 787 Dreamliner headed for London, crashed Thursday morning while departing Ahmedabad’s Patel International Airport. Flight 171, was carrying Indian, British, Portuguese and one Canadian citizen from Ahmedabad in western India to London’s Gatwick International Airport. It departed at 1:17 with temperatures at the airport in the 100 degree Farhenheit (37 celcius) range.

Unlike many international airports, Patel is located in a densely populated area, and the 787 plowed into the top floor of a hostel housing students of B.J. Medical College. The New York Times is reporting that five people on the ground were killed. But the fate of some airline passengers is not known at the time of this writing. Video of emergency responders shows some of those arriving at the hospital were still alive.

https://bbc.com/news/videos/cy4kxq9e9gqo

Video of the crash shows the 11-year old Boeing 787 moments after taking off but watch it a few times and you will see that at the time it first appears in the shot, it is in what looks like a flight level attitude. And while this could very well be a distortion of camera perspective, the airliner seems to change to a more nose-up angle about 9 seconds later.

After disappearing from the view of the camera the airliner, loaded with sufficient fuel for a 4,000-mile/7,000-kilometer flight, crashes and a fireball erupts. A statement from Air India reported that during the short flight, pilots made a Mayday call.

In air accidents, what happened is often easier to discover than why it happened. But the growing presence of video cameras can be useful in providing early clues.

We already know that both Boeing and Air India have wrestled with safety issues for more than a decade, as I have reported in depth on my blog (see links below) and in my books, The Crash Detectives and Deadly Departure.

Air India has had troubles with safety and maintenance over the years. And when it first started flying the 787, was said to have been cannibalizing some Dreamliners to keep others in the air.

For Boeing, the array of problems includes design and manufacturing issues. Many in the airline industry remember the 4-month grounding of the airplane when it first entered service, due to its use of lithium-ion batteries that were going into thermal runaway.

And for years, manufacturing flaws at the 787 assembly facility in South Carolina, required increased FAA scrutiny. More recently, whistleblowers told members of the U.S. Congress that the plane maker was often pressuring workers to take safety shortcuts.

One Dreamliner critic who complained of widespread electrical problems on the 787, committed suicide, leaving a note nearby castigating Boeing. And do I need to say more about Boeing and its 737 Max? I think not.

The early hours are awash with details and clues. But it takes time, diligence and patience for the full story to emerge.

Continue below for previous posts on Air India and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner