Ahmedabad (TDI): Shock waves and confusion are echoing through the world of aviation following the crash of Air India Flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, barely minutes after it had taken off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
The plane was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members when it crashed into a high-density residential area and killed all on board except one, leaving dozens more injured on the ground.
The question that naturally arises from this tragedy goes beyond the fact that it happened; it also relates to how it happened. The Boeing 787, launched in 2011, has always been seen as having a cutting-edge technology, revolutionary design, and a better safety record.
Before this accident, the Dreamliner had carried over 600 million passengers across the globe with no recorded fatal passenger crash. Today, over 1,100 Dreamliners are in service globally, racking up millions of safe flight hours.
With this history, how could the Dreamliner have a sudden and catastrophic failure?
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Eyewitness accounts and CCTV footage have captured the terrifying freefall and subsequent crash of the aircraft in the region surrounding the campus of BJ Medical College after the initial takeoff. The aircraft was shrouded in a thick black cloud of smoke within seconds.
Emergency responders rushed to the location; however, by then much of the body of the aircraft had already been burned by fire. The sole survivor, thus far, a British national, is in critical condition, and rescue efforts are ongoing.
The crash is being described by experts as one of India’s worst air disasters in recent times. The investigation is being carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) with the help of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Boeing, and GE Aerospace.
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The authorities have confirmed that the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, or the black boxes of the aircraft, have been recovered and will be crucial in analyzing the series of events that resulted in the crash.
Investigations are now looking at a number of possible reasons: mechanical failure, bird strike, pilot mistake, or a rare systems failure. An air transportation analyst stated, “The 787 has a near spotless record.” He continued, “To see it crash like this, shortly after takeoff , something serious and unusual must have occurred.”
As the pressure mounts and the questions pile up, the authorities insist it is too early to make any judgments. But to others, the biggest mystery remains: how could one of the most reliable planes in modern aviation simply fall from the sky?
The Diplomatic Insight is a digital and print magazine focusing on diplomacy, defense, and development publishing since 2009.
