A tail of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane that crashed is seen stuck on a building after the incident in Ahmedabad.
Credit: Reuters photo
The crash of the London-bound Air India aircraft AI 171 on Thursday shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport – causing the death of over 250 people including passengers, crew and others – is among the worst air tragedies the country has seen.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was hardly in the air for a few minutes before it plunged and crashed into a civilian area, and turned into a fireball. Tearing through the boys’ hostel of the BJ Medical College, the aircraft left at least five students dead and around 50 hospitalised with injuries. Even as the death toll is being ascertained, one passenger has survived miraculously by escaping through the emergency exit of the aircraft. The scenes from the hostel have intensified the collective grief of the nation.
The cause of the accident is being probed by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). The recovery of the aircraft’s black box on Friday has taken the authorities closer to the cause of the accident but multiple reasons, including overloading, a bird hit and the failure of both the engines, are being speculated on. The quantity of fuel, the atmospheric temperature, the altitude at which the plane started plunging and a combination of these factors are being cited. The crash has brought the focus, again, on safety concerns with regard to Boeing aircraft, including the Dreamliner. Though this is the first time a Dreamliner has crashed, there have been questions about its safety profile, including from an engineer formerly employed with the aerospace company. Two 737 Max jetliner crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, in 2018 and 2019 respectively, were traced to faults in the aircraft. Last month, the company entered a deal with the US Department of Justice to avoid prosecution.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had earlier launched investigations into the aircraft’s production and assembly processes after the FAA’s audit of Boeing’s facilities revealed issues related to production practices and safety culture. India’s DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has also launched its inquiry through the recently set up Digital Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder Laboratory. Boeing and Air India are yet to officially comment on the accident’s causes. The Dreamliner is known as the “best-selling passenger wide-body of all time” and the pilots were highly experienced. So confirming the reason for the crash is important not only for the aviation sector in India but for the world. Assurance of safe air travel is critical at a time the aviation sector is expanding, especially in countries such as India.