The Tragic Air India Accident at Ahmedabad in June 2025, and Matters Arising

Opinion

By Paramanund Soobarah

The billion and a half people of the Indian nation and diaspora are in mourning due to the tragic accident that happened to Air India flight AI171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, on Thursday 12 June 2025. The aircraft was taking-off with 242 people on board for Gatwick from Ahmedabad Airport in the State of Gujarat; it got airborne but failed to climb and crashed a few seconds later. All but one on board died in the accident; the crashing aircraft also caused the death of a further 38 people on the ground and injuring a further undetermined number when it hit buildings in a hospital campus.

The facts of the crash as they have been reported so far, freed from the totally unnecessary and often misleading comments, are that the aircraft became airborne after a normal take-off roll but that the landing gear was not retracted as it should be as soon as the aircraft starts climbing; it had remained extended all through its short flight. Some observers also mention problems with the flaps, the small movable appendages at the back edges of the wings. Apparently, these were not lowered as they should normally be for take-off. The aircraft rose a few hundred feet, but soon the pilot reported he was not getting sufficient lift and that the aircraft was falling. The pilot continued straight forward on a downward trajectory; he did issue a “MAYDAY” call before hitting the ground at a hospital campus, bursting into a ball of fire on contact.

The AAIB became active immediately after the accident (it does not have to wait for instructions from anybody to that effect), sifting through evidence. The Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) have been located and taken into custody. Reportedly they are damaged and, as of writing, a decision is awaited about sending them to the US, the country of manufacture, for further examination and decoding. In any other country, this would be a matter of course. But in a country where the most dangerous enemy is sitting within a few feet of you in Parliament, and the government’s every move, from the Prime Minister’s going to the bathroom to his not being asked to lunch by another Head of State, are scrutinised by an unfriendly press for possible anti-national plotting, and where actual anti-national plotting takes place in full view of the media and judiciary, and no questions asked, one has to be careful.
The enormousness of the crash, the number of people who died because of it and their identities have provoked a huge public reaction which has shaken politicians and secretaries out of their wits. The public’s reaction has been much stronger than normally predictable.

The incident took place in the State of Gujarat, the home State of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, as also Shri Amit Shah, the Home Minister. Shri Vijay Rupani, till recently Chief Minister of the State, was among the passengers killed. As to be expected, the press, TV and social media are going for the Minister concerned. The opportunity has been seized by those asking the questions of referring not only to this incident but also to long-standing complaints about the level of aviation safety in India. Every week one hears of an aeroplane or helicopter accident. Not so old people remember that aircraft of the famous Indian Airlines, a sister airline of Air India engaged in short-haul domestic and international flights, now defunct, used to be called flying coffins.

It is well-known that that flying in any country is just as safe as travelling on its roads. Hundreds of millions travel on Indian roads and railways every day, but it is sad to say that each day thousands do not get to their destinations, taking hundreds of innocent pedestrians along with them and leaving behind hundreds who get crippled for life. But in this case the media either keep quiet, find some other lame excuses justifying the accidents, or, in a bid to please the middle class, go after the “brats” who run away with their rich dads’ Mercs, BMWs or Porches. According to reports, nearly 500,000 accidents occur each year, with 150,000 dying and 300,000 crippled for life. The Minister concerned, Shri Nitin Gadhkari, has been leading a relentless struggle to improve discipline on the roads right from his appointment way back in 2014, but sadly without much success so far. In 2016, he tried to get a bill on road safety through parliament but could not garner sufficient support. He complained bitterly about the ‘vested interests’ for that, complaining that “more people get killed in road accidents than in wars, terror attacks or epidemics every year”. He continued his fight and did get the bill through in 2019. But his action was again met with strikes by auto-rickshaws, buses and cabs. Minister Nitin Gadhkari was quick to point out that the Act was in the national interest, and that there would be no fine if drivers complied with the law. One can only conclude that the drivers and their Unions just wanted to continue with the bad behaviour and not have to pay the new fines. For them people dying on roads was not an important matter. But regrettably, with the constitutional make-up of India, it falls to the States to implement the Act, and the first State to indicate its disagreement and unwillingness to implement it was actually Gujarat. Other States followed with the same type of reaction. Surface travel remains as dangerous as ever; can one expect air travel to be any better?

Aircraft crashes are a matter that technically concern, first and foremost, the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB); their duties and responsibilities are laid out very clearly in law. As required, an investigation is under way into the causes of the accident, in accordance with procedures established under the Convention on International Civil Aviation agreed at the conference held Chicago in December 1944 and amplified in great detail in Annex 13 to that Convention.

Like most other large countries, India has established a body, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) to conduct such investigations, paralleling the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the UK Accident Investigation Branch (AIB). Smaller countries usually set up ad-hoc bodies for the purpose after each accident. As is proper, the investigation into the crash is being conducted by the AAIB. Under the established international procedures, such investigation is carried out by the State of Occurrence (India); the State of Registry of the aircraft (if it is a foreign aircraft), the States of Design and of Manufacture of the airframe and of engines are entitled to participate in it. Furthermore, States whose citizens have suffered casualties in the accident are usually allowed to participate. This explains the presence of American and British experts in the investigation. The investigation task force, led by the AAIB, is the only party mandated to pronounce upon the probable causes of the accident.
However, because of the harsh public criticism of safety standards in aviation from the public, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has announced the formation of a high-level committee to look into the crash and review and overhaul India’s aviation safety policies, and to provide a report within three months; this committee is chaired by the Secretary heading his ministry. The Minister has only been recently appointed and not very experienced at this job. While an overhaul of aviation safety in the country is certainly necessary, and machinery for it needs to be established, it is obvious that the Secretary has not correctly advised the Minister. There will be unnecessary and unwarranted duplication and overlapping of work between the AAIB and this new committee which will be chaired by the secretary; the latter, being more powerful, will overrule the DGCA. Interference with the AAIB’s work is likely to cause misunderstandings and totally unnecessary international questioning and criticism of the Indian system of operation.

For Safety to be so poor there must be some reason. What has also the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) been doing since Independence, when he became free from interference by British masters? What actually happened is that he fell from the frying pan straight into the fire. In the new constitutional setup, the power to take decisions shifted from departmental heads to cabinet ministers. While this is perfectly valid as they are answerable to the public, they are not aware of the ins and outs of the administration and usually act with the advice of Secretaries – top civil servants who claim they know everything. These people overrule technocratic advice as they please and often mislead ministers. In the present case, did the Secretary consult with DGCA at all before giving his advice to the Minister about setting up the high-level committee to be chaired by himself? This sort of thing happens in practically all fields. That is the root of the problem; the secretaries become the real masters of the country, and they have scant regard for the technocrats usually appointed as department heads. Requests from interested operators are usually for easing certain technical regulations, i.e. cutting some corners. The department heads are faced with the choice between the strict application of regulatory standards and keeping their position. In this human set-up much indiscipline sets in with time, and this leads to a lowering of safety standards.

While the new Minister is most concerned about the Air India crash, calls have come for a complete overhaul of the aviation safety framework, following the long-standing criticisms of the mode of operation of DGCA. Knowledgeable members of the public see the need for the Directorate of Civil Aviation to be freed from interference by ministerial secretaries and granted the same powers of operation like the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the US Federal Aviation Agency, and the Australian Civil Aviation Authority. Minister Ram Mohan Naidu’s panel is chaired by the head of his Ministry. If it does not call for liberating the DGCA from political and secretarial interference, it will have served only as a temporiser and totally failed the public interest.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 20 June 2025