1. Air India Plane Crash

 Now we’re going to meet these words in context.

Tragedy after take-off – how one survivor’s story could solve the Air India crash.

Just a few days ago, an Air India flight crashed shortly after take-off. The plane was heading to London, but never made it out of India. It hit a building and exploded, killing more than 240 people. Now, investigators are trying to work out what went wrong. And the only survivor may hold the key as investigators work to understand what brought down Air India Flight 171.

They’re focusing on the only person who survived Vishwashkumar Ramesh – sorry if I’m pronouncing that wrong – who is 40, somehow walked away from the crash that killed more than 240 people. He literally walked away from it. It’s incredible, isn’t it?

He described seeing green and white cabin lights flicker just before the plane started to drop.

“It felt like we were stuck in the air,” he told reporters from his hospital bed. “The plane wasn’t gaining altitude,” (it wasn’t going up) “and was just gliding.” Then it suddenly slammed into a building and exploded.

Experts say the flickering lights could mean the plane lost electrical power, a sign that the engines weren’t working.

In the pilot’s final message to the air traffic controller, he said the plane had no thrust – no engine power – and was unable to lift.

That suggests the plane lost power. Just seconds after take-off, the aircraft plunged to the ground. One expert said it looked like the pilots were still in control, but they simply didn’t have enough power to climb, so they plunged to the ground.

Investigators are now looking at several possible causes from engine failure to electrical problems, or even contaminated – that’s dirty – fuel.

For now all we know is that something went badly wrong and one man is lucky to be alive.

Does he feel lucky, do you think? Or does he just feel traumatised?

Right. Let’s look at the words in more detail. Remember that they are in the description as well.

Flicker, F-L-I-C-K-E-R. This is when light changes in brightness, sometimes going out briefly or becoming weak.

It often suggests instability, weakness, or a problem, like a candle flame in the wind, or an unstable electrical supply. So in the case of the article, the flickering cabin lights are a clue that there was no power or some kind of a loss of power.

Other words for lights. What other verbs can you use to describe lights? There are lots. Let’s look at three.

Twinkling. This is when lights shine with a small, gentle, pretty light that goes on and off, and it’s decorative and often used for Christmas lights or to describe stars twinkling in the night sky.

Flashing. Lights that flash send out bright lights suddenly and repeatedly. It’s often attention grabbing, like a warning signal. So for example, the ambulance light flashed bright blue.

Another verb to describe lights would be pulsing. This describes light – or sound actually – that grows stronger and weaker in a regular rhythmic way, so it suggests a steady beat or flow like a heartbeat. For example, the pulsing glow of a nightclub’s neon sign.

But Ramesh chose the best word here. Why is flickering better than twinkling, flashing, or pulsing? In the case of the aeroplane lights, flickering is the best choice in this story because it suggests the lights are unstable or failing, likely caused by a power problem.

Flashing would be more like a deliberate warning, light turning on and off regularly. Twinkling sounds too soft and pretty – not appropriate for an emergency situation! And pulsing suggests a rhythmic pattern, rather than an unstable or failing light.

Right. I promised you a note about the pronunciation of flicker.

Flicker. The stress is on the first syllable. The second syllable, /ə/, flicker, flicker. It finishes in a schwa. This word, the second syllable is a schwa. And the schwa is a sound – /ə/.

I’m talking about standard British English, which is all I’m going to talk about. There are lots of accents in English, but I use mine, which is a standard British accent.

So for me, this word finishes in an /ə/ sound, and this is called a schwa.

Right. Word two was glide. So we talked about the plane gliding. And this is because it had lost power, because gliding means moving smoothly and continuously through the air with little or no noise. In fact, a glider is the word for an aircraft that flies without an engine, without needing an engine.

The witness’s statement that the plane was just gliding shows us that the engines had probably failed and the plane was still moving through the air for a time. Glide is G-L-I-D-E. This word contains a diphthong – /aɪ/, /aɪ/ – glide.

Vocabulary number three was slam into, which is a phrasal verb like crash into, but even more dramatic. Slam into. SLAM.

Slam into means to hit something with a lot of force and noise.

It’s quite informal and it’s often used to describe accidents, sudden impacts or crashes. The fourth piece of vocabulary was air traffic controller. An air traffic controller is a person who directs aeroplanes in the sky, and on the ground as well, to keep them safe and avoid collisions, avoid crashes. Air traffic controllers work in control towers at airports.

Pilots must always listen carefully to the air traffic controller. An air traffic controller also gives the pilot permission to land. They can’t just land when they feel like it, of course!

In this news story, we know the pilot’s last words to air traffic control were, “Thrust not achieved. Falling. Mayday mayday!”

Mayday is a call for help.

The pronunciation in this three word noun phrase is air traffic controller and the stress on controller is on the second syllable of three: controller. Air traffic controller.

And the last piece of vocabulary this week was plunge to the ground. This is a dramatic phrase, which means fall or drop quickly and suddenly from a high place down to the ground.

So in the case of this story, the plane sadly plunged to the ground, meaning it fell quickly and dramatically to the ground, not under control of the pilot.

Plunge, P-L-U-N-G-E.

Plunge has different but connected meanings, so you can also use it to talk about a sudden fall in level or value.

For example, temperatures plunged. What would that mean? Temperatures plunged. It means it’s suddenly got much colder.

We have experienced a plunge in profits. A plunge in profits. It’s a noun there, plunge, and it means that our profits suddenly reduced massively.

You can say plunge into water. I know that some other languages use this word – French, for example: plonger.

It’s not used exactly the same though, so be careful. You can say plunge into water, and this means you enter water suddenly and it can include falling in or jumping in. However, when we say dive into water, this has a different meaning. It’s actually more common, but it’s specifically means head first. I mean, your hands might hit the water first, of course, but you are… the direction you’re traveling in is head first.

Plunging can mean you go in head first, but more normally would just be entering the water maybe upright. So dive is more specific.

Don’t forget that these words are in the description. And also remember that you can get a free transcript of today’s podcast episode from my website. The link is in the description.

Subscribe to my podcast to make sure you don’t miss an episode. There will be one every week. Your vocabulary will improve massively, I promise, if you make a habit of listening.

So thank you for listening to Learn English with the News, with your hostess, Karen. Take care and see you next time.