Thursday's Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, Western India, has sparked discussions among aviation experts and analysts. A recent theory suggests that the co-pilot of the ill-fated Air India flight AI171 may have made a critical error in the cockpit, leading to the tragic incident that claimed the lives of 241 individuals.

An aviation expert and YouTuber known for analyzing plane crashes, Captain Steve, proposed a theory regarding the events that unfolded on the London-bound 787 Dreamliner flight. According to Captain Steve, the co-pilot may have mistakenly pulled the wing flaps instead of retracting the landing gear when instructed to do so. This simple error could have had catastrophic consequences, causing the aircraft to lose height and eventually crash over a residential area in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Captain Steve explained, "Here's what I think happened, again, folks, this is just my opinion. I think the pilot flying said to the co-pilot 'gear up' at the appropriate time. I think the co-pilot grabbed the flap handle and raised the flaps, instead of the gear. If that happened, this explains a lot of why this airplane stopped flying."

The premature retraction of the wing flaps would have disrupted the lift generated by the wings, while the landing gear, still extended, would have created significant drag. This combination of factors would have made it challenging for the aircraft to maintain altitude without sufficient power to overcome the drag. Visual evidence also supports this theory, as footage captured before the crash shows the wings of the Air India aircraft appearing unusually flat, indicating that the flaps, essential for generating lift during takeoff, may have been mistakenly retracted.

Captain Steve further elaborated, "Had they been at a higher altitude, they could have dropped the nose and gained some speed to potentially recover from the situation. However, at an altitude of about 300 feet when the error occurred, they simply didn't have enough altitude to recover."