[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by sunnyFLORIDA5828

Little doubt it was pilot error. The wing flaps were not in takeoff/landing position. Virtually flat

Originally Posted by idlewild

From what I have observed and read, this cause of the crash was most likely due to pilot error. Specifically, the first officer should have retracked the landing gear at about 50 feet following what appeared to be a normal routine takeoff. Instead, he/she most likely mistakenly retracted the flaps which lead to the loss of lift at the time when the landing gear should have normally been retracted. The pilot probably did not know this had happened and was unable to recover in time.

Nothing suggests power failure either due to a bird strike or engine failure nor do I think the flaps were set improperly (5%) for takeoff. Instead, I sadly believe it was due to the flaps being mistakenly retracted prematurely instead of the landing gear which lead to the loss of lift shortly after takeoff.

Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan

Flaps are used 100% of the time when an airliner takes off; the flaps on that flight were not down, which WOULD have provided additional lift, and the landing gear were still down, which ADDED a lot of additional drag. Something went bad wrong with that flight.

Originally Posted by Velvet

You are not the first one to make this observation. People I know agree with this. We shall see if this was the cause and whether the cause was pilot or mechanical.

Originally Posted by sunnyFLORIDA5828

The Mirror US

Aviation experts believe an issue with the wing flaps of an Air India plane that crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad may have played a role in the disaster.

After reviewing footage of the crash, aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas told the BBC that "the undercarriage is still down but the flaps have been retracted."
...

Marco Chan, a former pilot and a senior lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University, told the outlet that the incident may "point to potential human error if flaps aren’t set correctly”

"It's very hard to say from the video for sure, it doesn't look as if the flaps are extended and that would be a perfectly obvious explanation for an aircraft not completing its take off correctly," he told the BBC.

Originally Posted by mikemalloy

From the video it appears that the wheels were not retracted after takeoff. Not realizing what the problem was the crew may have lowered the flaps that compounded the problem.

Originally Posted by talonip

I was an airline pilot for 33 years and military for over 20. If the flaps or trims and other things were not set for takeoff correctly there are
very loud warnings in the cockpit when throttles are advanced for takeoff. Annoying WARNINGS.
Let the NTSB or Indian equivalent get the FDR and voice recorders and we will eventually get to the truth

Originally Posted by Velvet

Findings to date:

The fuel supply switches for the plane’s two engines were manually turned off about one second apart, just seconds after the plane left the runway. As the report states without identifying the speakers: “In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.”’

WSJ July15/25

No mention of "flaps". No mention of the airplane's take off configuration. No suggestion there was any pilot error. The most common of all airplane issues ... fuel starvation.