The Story of the 17-Year-Old Who Filmed Air India Plane Crash

A 17-year-old who filmed crucial footage of the Air India plane crash that has so far killed 270 people has been left traumatized by the event.

High school student Aryan Asari tells National Herald India that he reached his father’s house at 12.30 P.M. on June 12 and learned that aircraft frequently fly at low altitudes. This piqued his curiosity and he duly went up to the terrace to film the nearby airplanes taking off from Ahmedabad airport.

“I was recording a video of a plane flying low out of curiosity because I had never seen one from such a close distance,” he tells the Herald.

But in a moment of perverse serendipity, Asari’s innocent recording turned into a moment of horror as the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner failed to gain altitude and began to fall below the horizon before disappearing and exploding in a fiery ball.

“When the plane started descending, I thought it was going to land on the other side of the airport. Then it crashed and burst into flames right in front of my eyes. It was terrifying,” he told reporters.

Asari was apparently unable to eat, sleep, or speak properly after filming the crash with family members concerned for his wellbeing. However, his video will undoubtedly help investigators piece together what happened. The initial version of his video that went online was a recording of his smartphone. But the higher-res version has now been released (above) and it appears to capture video and audio of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) being deployed which may suggest a dual engine failure as experts say the RAT only activates when both engines fail.

Of the 242 people on board, consisting of 230 passengers and 12 crew members, only one person survived. A British citizen by the name of Vishwashkumar Rames was filmed walking away from the accident after being seated in 11A. Families are still waiting on DNA tests so health officials can return the bodies of their loved ones.

Air India Flight 171 was bound for London Gatwick Airport. Investigators will now start examining the crash for clues as to why the airliner failed. Examiners will begin by studying the pilots’ last words, which were recorded from the Boeing 787’s second black box cockpit voice recorder.