The June 12 Air India crash in Ahmedabad shattered families and set off a storm of speculations about the possible reasons behind the mishap. As the probe got underway, theories flew thick and fast raising deeper concerns about safety and oversight in Indian aviation. A report by Vibha Sharma
The tragic June 12 plane crash involving Air India flight AI-171 had led to a raging debate on air/aviation safety, with some “experts” also questioning Indian carriers and their capabilities and prowess of those operating them.
While India struggled to process the shocking details of the ill-fated Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which crashed minutes after take-off from the Ahmedabad airport, destroying families and shattering dreams, a systematic effort on building a certain narrative also began to be noticed.
Yes, pilot error is a possibility in an air crash, it can happen with the best of the pilots in the cockpit. But was that the reason in the Ahmedabad case, it was just too premature to say, or even guess. It is a known fact that till the time investigators, in this case Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), analyses all available evidence, pieces together all details, decodes the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), nothing should be said about cause of the accident
“The investigation process can take months, sometimes even more than a year. What really surprised me in this case was this discreet attempt to push the ‘pilot error’ narrative, and that too just a couple of hours into the accident. by some “armchair experts” and “foreign TikTok aviators with zero access to facts,” laments a senior airline pilot who did not wish to be identified.
“Multiple theories, without even a shred of data, speculative at best and presumptuous at worst, some even implicating the operating crew, had started doing the rounds before the sun set on that sad day,” he adds.
Investigation
There can be many reasons for a crash—technical/ mechanical, design, human error (pilot or ATC), weather conditions—all of which need to be fixed after any accident for future flight safety. While families and India grappled with the tragic loss, the AAIB launched a comprehensive investigation with a team of experts from various disciplines.
The days that followed were unnerving, for airlines as well as flyers.
Soon, reports of flights being cancelled, suspended, or turned around began coming in almost every other day. On June 17, Air India’s Ahmedabad–London flight AI 159—which had replaced the ill-fated AI 171—was abruptly cancelled, with the airline citing aircraft unavailability due to enhanced safety checks and post-crash maintenance.”
After the crash, civil aviation regulator DGCA mandated deeper inspections of Air India’s Boeing 787 and 777 fleets. This was said to be one of the reasons behind cancellations of many wide-body flights and limiting operations, say those familiar with air operations, apart from the extra deep dive into related issues like flight crew scheduling, rostering and monitoring.
What added to the chaos was this hue and cry following reports that the back box from the ill-fated flight was being sent abroad for retrieval and analysis. This added to multiple theories, including accusations that manufacturer Boeing was trying to interfere in the investigation. It had to be clarified that the AAIB would take a call on where to decode the black box after due assessment of all technical, safety and security considerations.
Every commercial aircraft has a FDR or Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) which records details on flight operation like altitude, speed, engine performance and control inputs and a CVR which records conversations between pilots, their communications with air traffic control along with other ambient sounds. By analysing the data and recordings, investigators are able to reconstruct the final moments of the aircraft and prevent such mishaps in future. Retrieving the data safely in itself is a huge task, experts say.
The Boeing angle
Since 2018, airline major Boeing has been under public scrutiny following some safety gaps exposés by whistle blowers, regulatory probes and two 737 Max crashes. Accusations against it also include “pressures to meet production goals at the cost of engineering safeguards” and attempts to “cover-up”.
There may be no direct connection between earlier crashes and the Dreamliner crash but the aviation major’s “broader safety culture” is under the spotlight. Technical and mechanical design of an aircraft are key to its safe flight, which is why the sudden appearance of these “TikTok pilots” on social media after the accident, dropping subtle hints about pilots, created much angst in the fraternity.
After the June 12 catastrophe, Air India and regulators started implementing thorough inspections, especially of Dreamliner and 777 aircraft, resulting in operational limitations. Many wide-body flights were disrupted due to mandated inspections across 787s and 777s, however, affected passengers were compensated with full refunds, re-bookings, and on-ground assistance, say AI officials
In aviation, delays, cancellations and diversions are a normal occurrence, but after the Ahmedabad accident they became newsy.
There can be many reasons for cancellation or diversion of a flight like technical outages and weather—monsoons, winters, fog, visibility etc. Worldwide the average flight cancellation rate is around 1.4%, meaning that there is a chance of approximately one in every 70 flights being cancelled due to one or the other reason. It has happened with almost every other flyer at some point in time. The global aviation data also shows that cancellations happen, they add
There can be other reasons for rescheduling or delays, like a pilots’ strike, geopolitical causes (like Iran-Israel crisis) and also a volcano eruption.
In June, flights of several airlines, including Air India, were cancelled when Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in Indonesia erupted, sending an ash column as high as 10 km. The volcanic eruption forced Air India to divert mid-way the Delhi-Bali flight back to Delhi.
This was not the first time a volcano eruption sent airlines into a tizzy. The 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland caused widespread disruption to air travel, with over 100,000 cancellations across Europe due to concerns about volcanic ash affecting aircraft engines. The eight-day airspace closures/restrictions, left millions of passengers stranded, incurring loss worth around $1.7 billion to the airline industry.
Inventory issues–
This time, however, there seemed to be one more reason.
Enhanced checks protocol mandated by the regulator and quality control—inspections, replacements of flawed parts—are essential for aviation safety and cannot be compromised at any cost. But Air India in specific also appears to be “kind of challenged for inventory management”.
Boeing has been experiencing a shortage of spare parts for Dreamliner, impacting production and delivery schedules, according to reports. The British Airways was reportedly forced to ground some of the Dreamliner fleet and reduce flights due to the lack of available parts, factors highlighting the fragility of global supply chains.
“Airlines throughout the world have taken a hit for spares but Boeing operators appear to have been hit harder. Dependence on China for specific and intrinsic parts like semiconductors, rare earth-based spares is a real issue. We barely recovered from Covid when geopolitical flashpoints complicated matters. US President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again tariff protocol added further to the situation. In those terms, Indigo’s decision to stay with Airbus proved a redoubtable policy which has seen and passed the test of time through thick and thin,” says the senior airline pilot.
