By Devendra Gautam

At 1.39 pm (Indian standard time) on June 12, an Air India Boeing 787 with the call sign AI-171 crashed barely a minute after takeoff from the Sardar Vallabhai Patel international airport (Ahmedabad) while en route to the Gatwick international airport in London, killing at least 279 people, including 241 on board — except for Vishwaskumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origins, who was among those on board — and a number of medical professionals at a resident doctors’ hostel where it crashed.  


Living to tell the tale
Ramesh had his seat (11A) next to the emergency exit, according to media reports that quoted him as saying that he heard a loud bang 30 seconds into the takeoff, making aviation experts wonder if it was a case of engine failure that led to the crash. 

Apparently, the survivor does not recall the circumstances that spared his life but he remembers seeking medical help after his lucky exit (somehow) through the emergency door. 

Celebrations cut short

Incidentally, the crash occurred barely a month after the Boeing celebrated carrying its billionth passenger on the 787 Dreamliner, marking a key milestone for the series launched just 14 years ago. Until the AI-171 crash, the model was a mainstay of intercontinental travel with an impressive safety record.

A cursory internet search shows that the Boeing has more than 1,100 Dreamliners — considered an airline's work horse for long-haul flights — in service globally. Thirty-three of these planes are with Air India and one with its rival IndiGo.

Revisiting tragedies

The AI-171 crash brings back memories of major air disasters that have rocked the world, including the 78-seater Bombardier Dash 8 belonging to the US-Bangla Airlines crashed while landing in Kathmandu from Dhaka on March 12, 2018, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.  

On January 29, 2025, more than 60 people lost their lives when an American Airlines (AAL.O) — a regional passenger jet — collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the frigid Potomac river near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

In the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil, all 175 passengers and four of the six-member crew died when a Jeju Air international flight (7C2216) crashed at the Muan International Airport on December 29, 2024.

The Azerbaijan Airlines international flight (J2-8243) crashed on December 25, 2024 after being diverted from Russia to Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.

On March 21, 2022, 132 people died when a China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) Boeing 737-800 crashed in the southwestern Guangxi region, making it China’s deadliest aviation disaster in 28 years.

On January 8, 2020, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards shot down a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 after its takeoff from Tehran Airport, killing all 176 people on board. Iran's civil aviation authorities blamed a misaligned radar and an error on the part of an air defence operator.

In 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 737-MAX 8 jet crashed on March 19, minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa for Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board. This disaster prompted the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX global fleet over safety concerns.

In 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX plane belonging to the Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea soon after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, 2018, killing all 189 people on board.

On July 17, 2014, a Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, was shot down over eastern Ukraine as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces, killing all 298 people on board.

And who among the aviation enthusiasts can forget the mysterious MH370 air disaster? On March 8, 2014, the Malaysia Airlines’ Flight MH370 went missing while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board. The search for the remains of the Boeing 777 and those on board continues to date. 

The info trove 

Back to Ahmedabad. What turned the powerful plane, which was under the control of Sumeet Sabrabal (54) with more than 8,200 logged hours and Clive Kunder as the first officer (with 1,100 logged hours), into a huge plume of smoke within a minute after its takeoff, leaving behind a trail of deaths and devastation?

Bird ingestion? The rarest of the rare double engine failure? 

Investigators from the US planemaker Boeing, GE, the manufacturer of the plane’s engines, as well as officials from India, the National Transport Safety Board (the US) and the United Kingdom, which lost 50 of its nationals in the crash, will surely have a hard time finding answers, with the plane’s black box expected to provide vital clues, as usual. The flight data recorder (FDR) of the box records technical data like speed, altitude, engine performance and control movements whereas the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) captures audio from the cockpit, including crew conversations, radio transmissions and background noises. 

A wake-up call

Flying in Nepal is a tough task, given mountainous terrains marked by the vagaries of weather, the presence of STOL airports up north and technological constraints.
Since 2000, according to reports, nearly 380 people have died in 20-odd air crashes. Nepal has remained on the European Union’s air safety blacklist since December 2013, effectively keeping Nepali airlines, including the national flag-carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), off the European airspace. The regional bloc wants the government to unbundle the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal into a service provider and a regulator to improve aviation safety. 

In summary, the AI-171 crash should come as a rude shock and prompt civil aviation authorities in Nepal to take concrete steps toward improving air safety.