A Tragic End Of Dreams In The Dreamliner

The fiery end to Air India’s Ahmedabad-London Gatwick flight 171, with the tragic loss of at least 265 lives, has shaken the country and several communities abroad. Many lives, hopes and aspirations were snuffed out in minutes as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner unbelievably became powerless soon after take-off and descended from 625 feet to the ground, crashing a short distance from the airport. The disaster that befell the flight will remain seared in the country’s consciousness, just as major tragedies in the past have. There appeared little hope of many survivors among the 242 people on board the plane from the explosive blaze that enveloped the aircraft on impact, although one passenger miraculously survived. Poignantly, the crash claimed the lives of at least seven people at the BJ Medical College, including five medicos. Details of other victims on the ground are bound to emerge in the coming days, along with more insights into what happened to the wide-bodied aircraft on the fateful Thursday afternoon. Videos of the plane crash show it failing to achieve a positive rate of climb immediately on take-off and losing altitude with a high angle of attack in aviation parlance, its nose pointing upward. Global attention is focused on the fact that the Air India Dreamliner is the first aircraft of its type to crash; it was a direct purchase by the airline, one of many, and has operated about 41,000 hours and 8,000 take-off-landing cycles, typical for its 10-year existence. Yet, the plane and others in service should now attract closer scrutiny, particularly against the backdrop of a whistleblower at Boeing calling for a review of the company’s manufacturing practices.

Safety is notoriously weak in India’s transport sector, but aviation has traditionally stood apart because of the global standards and regulations that it must comply with. The last fatal commercial airliner crash took place in 2020 during COVID-19 when an Air India Express plane, on a repatriation flight from Dubai, crashed at Kozhikode after overshooting the tabletop runway. Previous fatal crashes in Mangaluru, Patna, Charkhi Dadri, Bengaluru and Mumbai since the 1970s, when air travel was small and many aircraft were of doubtful integrity, led to calls for greater safety. The disaster at Ahmedabad involving a modern plane poses the question anew: how safe is Indian aviation as it expands rapidly? Consider that based on scheduled seat capacity, India’s domestic aviation sector is poised to become the third largest in the world this year, behind the US and China. As thousands of Indians board planes, they must feel reassured that the aircraft, on-ground systems, air traffic control, airport infrastructure and disaster response systems match the best in the world. India is pursuing a National Aviation Safety Plan linked to obligations to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) over the next four years, implementing recommendations on state safety oversight, accidents, serious incidents, incidents and air proximity events. It is incumbent on the Civil Aviation Ministry to assure the public that this is indeed a credible exercise. There have been many near-misses, including one last year in Mumbai when an Indigo plane landed on the same runway where an Air India flight was in the process of taking off. Now, as one of the worst air crashes in a long time, the international inquiry into AI171, led by India and involving the US National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing, engine maker General Electric and ICAO, should throw light on the likely cause and any failures.

Airport modernisation to meet the growing scale of aviation should receive priority policy attention, with specific reference to safety. In Ahmedabad, international observers have pointed to the existence of a single runway with no taxiway on either side beyond the mid-point. It is unclear if a planned expansion of the taxiway and the removal of some buildings around the airport to facilitate additional air operations were completed. The crashing of the Air India London flight into a building of the BJ Medical College, where medicos and others were gathered, begs the question whether norms on putting up structures around the airport are followed scrupulously. The college located southwest of the runway is surrounded by several heavily built localities, pointing to the challenge. As cities worldwide recognise, there is a clear risk involved in large-scale air operations at old urban airports and prescribe public safety zones where new buildings are not allowed. The new airports proposed or being built in India should follow strict norms, and operations at existing ones must be rationalised. In fact, there is a demand to reduce air operations in airports located inside cities; lawmakers called for a cut in operations after a passenger plane and a military helicopter collided near the Reagan Washington National Airport in the heart of the US capital in January this year, killing 67 people.

Importantly, Boeing has been criticised for its handling of whistleblower allegations from last year, which said improper procedures on the 787 manufacturing line could cause premature damage to the planes; the company has defended its processes. Public confidence in the company’s aircraft flagged after the two B737 Max crashes involving Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines a few years ago, linked to faulty flight control systems. India’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau probe should shed more light and lead to a deeper look at the safety of planes and airports. For now, the world waits for a credible explanation for the Ahmedabad tragedy.

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