Ahmedabad Plane Crash: An Accident Waiting To Happen?

For anyone tracking the Indian aviation sector closely, the June 12 crash of Air India flight AI 171 didn바카라�t come out of nowhere. The crash, considered one of the biggest in Indian aviation history, followed years of blinking warning lights that included unresolved personnel complaints, long-ignored safety concerns, whistleblower warnings and a regulatory framework that some experts say has been too lenient.

While the exact reasons for the crash remain unknown, this is the first such crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the company바카라�s flagship commercial aircraft. Boeing itself has been dogged by controversy for years. Most recently, the company faced the US Senate in congressional hearings in January when a panel blew out of a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight. Just weeks before the June 12 crash, Boeing had agreed to pay $1.1bn (£812m) to avoid prosecution over two 737 plane crashes that killed 346 people.

With more than 270 lives lost, the crash has prompted a national reckoning and raised uncomfortable questions about whether it was, in hindsight, an accident waiting to happen.

The 787, however, has been flying for years without any fatal incidents. 바카라�The 787 is a proven aircraft,바카라� says Captain Madan Kukar, who retired from Air India in 2001 after a storied career in aviation.

Others in the aviation sector allege that while one must wait for the government바카라�s investigation to provide clarity, the work and safety culture at Air India had been lagging for decades and that this accident was 바카라�just waiting to happen바카라�.

바카라�If you ask people in safety, they are not surprised this accident happened. We were just waiting for it to happen. Because accidents do not happen out of the blue. There are always patterns. You will have a thousand small incidents. You will have 250 serious incidents. And then you will have a big accident like this one,바카라� says Amit Singh, the founder of Safety Matters Foundation, an NGO dedicated to aviation safety.

Former Employees and Safety Concerns

A former Air India pilot who left the company in 2023 told Outlook that the company was lax in its training protocols and its adherence to safety norms well before the Tatas took over in January 2022. The pilot, who has over 30 years of experience, had pointed out several safety concerns to the new management after they took charge of the airline.

In an open letter written in 2023 to Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, which Outlook has accessed, the pilot claimed to have flagged 바카라�unsafe flight operations in Air India바카라� in multiple emails to Chandrasekaran, but 바카라�never received a single acknowledgement바카라�.

Some of the issues raised in the letter include concerns about a Chief of Operations (COO) with 바카라�questionable credentials바카라�. The pilot alleged that the COO바카라�s employment had previously been terminated due to misconduct, but he was re-hired on the condition that he would not be promoted. However, as the letter states, the COO was promoted from General Manager to Director of Operations thereafter. 바카라�One can understand such things happening under the former management, but for the Tata Group to retain him even after his retirement beats all logic and doesn바카라�t inspire any confidence in the intent of the new management,바카라� wrote the pilot.

In the same letter, the pilot, who at the time was a senior executive and instructor at the airline, flagged that prior to the Tata takeover, the Director of Operations (DOO) 바카라�embarked on a promotion spree바카라� to ensure that his pilots were upgraded from the Boeing fleet to captains on the Airbus fleet. The letter alleged that to expedite the process, the then-DOO 바카라�came up with a very sketchy syllabus바카라� as compared to that of other airlines such as IndiGo or even the Tata-owned AirAsia.

바카라�Though many experienced trainers raised concerns, it was all brushed aside in his haste to achieve self-imposed targets,바카라� the former Air India employee wrote to the Tata CEO, adding that the COO also 바카라�went about appointing pilots of his choice as Line Training Captains, Instructors and Examiners,바카라� and 바카라�in the process he violated all provisions of the Operations Manual which is considered sacrosanct바카라�.

Speaking with Outlook, the former Air India employee said that while serving the company as a trainer, he discovered that a group of pilots were allegedly cheating during their training. 바카라�The chief pilot of the Airbus 320 fleet was in that class. And I realised that he바카라�s organising the whole thing. He바카라�s telling people, okay, come on, post your answers, which is correct, which is not correct, and all that,바카라� said the pilot.

He took screenshots of the conversations between the pilots that proved cheating and sent them to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson. 바카라�Nothing was done,바카라� he alleged.

On June 19, a group of ex-employees of Air India wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging that they had been terminated in 2024 after raising red flags about technical defects in the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft. They have demanded a CBI probe into the issue.

Training Syllabus Lacking

In the same letter, the senior ex-Air India employee pointed out flaws in the pilot training programme, which the Executive Director-Training (ED(T)) ignored. Instead, the ED(T) issued instructions not to use the ex-employee as a trainer, he alleged.

According to the letter, the syllabus for the flight simulator was such that it was not possible to conduct all the exercises for the training within the stipulated time. This was ignored by the ED(T) until the employee said he would have to approach the regulatory authorities. Only then were changes made to the syllabus.

Responding to the allegation, an Air India spokesperson told Outlook, 바카라�There are personal opinions on promotions, appointments and company policy, which cannot be responded to and have appropriate forums for redressal for employees. There are also aspects related to the time prior to the privatisation of Air India, which cannot be commented upon.바카라�

A separate 2021 letter to the Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), written by the law offices of Dhiraj Rethi Duraiswami, Esq, also pointed out flaws in Air India바카라�s recruitment of trainers. The letter lists eight discrepancies between DGCA procedures for selection and those followed by Air India. These include not having a written test, as prescribed, to assess applicants바카라� knowledge of the Flight Crew Operating Manual, Flight Crew Training Manual and Standard Operating Procedure.

Duraiswami바카라�s letter also adds that these deviations are 바카라�not isolated incidents but symptoms of a larger malaise which has spread through the entire organization바카라�.

On June 17, the DGCA ordered Air India to hand over training records of the pilots and flight dispatchers who were working on the aircraft that crashed. The DGCA also cleared Air India바카라�s Boeing fleet, stating that the aircraft and maintenance systems were compliant with existing safety standards. The aviation watchdog raised some concerns about recent maintenance-related issues and advised Air India to strengthen internal coordination and ensure adequate availability of spare parts.

A Culture of Impunity

Until the investigation report is complete, it is unclear who will be held accountable for the fatal crash. However, aviation experts believe that Air India has always enjoyed a degree of immunity from the rules of the DGCA.

바카라�The safety culture has a pyramid. The bottom-most is called pathological culture, in which the operator or the airline will not do anything for safety unless they are caught,바카라� said Singh. The founder of Safety Matters points to the DGCA for not grounding Air India planes despite repeated faults. Air India has previously been censured for various issues, including problems with its fatigue management systems. 바카라�However, no real action was taken against the company by the DGCA,바카라� Singh said.

In January this year, the DGCA fined Air India Rs 30 lakh for allowing a pilot to operate a flight without meeting recency requirements바카라�at least three take-offs and landings in the past 90 days바카라�despite repeated alerts. In March 2024, Air India was fined Rs 80 lakh for violating flight-duty time limitations, risking pilot fatigue.

In his letter, the ex-Air India employee refers to a November 2022 incident on an international Chennai-to-Dubai route, where the co-pilot fell ill due to food poisoning. The sick pilot was given some medication to counter his vomiting and was then put back on the plane, the letter alleged. The pilot remained ill as he operated the return flight from Dubai to Chennai. 바카라�It was almost a case of pilot incapacitation, as I understand,바카라� said the letter to the Tata CEO.

While Singh criticises the DGCA for not grounding Air India planes despite repeated offences, the ex-Air India employee said a culture exists in the airline whereby whistleblowers are punished. He referred to an incident when a captain turned whistleblower exposed how some instructors avoided simulator training by remaining in their hotel rooms while simulator time was being logged. 바카라�Though the enquiry proved the culprits guilty, they rose to occupy senior managerial positions바카라� and the captain/whistleblower was not granted contractual employment by the Tata Group.바카라�

He also described how he was targeted by people within the organisation for attempting to make necessary changes. This included being scheduled for flights while he was out of town and officially on leave, being removed from his training duties and ultimately having his employment terminated with no notice.

An Air India spokesperson told Outlook, 바카라�The former employee may have explicitly stated an interest in being re-employed by Air India and had been threatening to release material unless the demand is met. He has used the tragedy of AI 171 to further press for re-employment which Air India will not submit to. Multiple of these issues have been examined on their merits by the appropriate governance authority, as well as being disclosed to the Air India Board Audit Committee.바카라�

The spokesperson added, 바카라�We unequivocally deny any conscious wrongdoing or oversight as alleged by a disgruntled individual or former employee, whose services had been terminated following misconduct. Air India remains committed to ensuring compliance to all statutory regulations and has a robust system in place to assess events and allegations.바카라�

Boeing바카라�s Troubles

Batteries Blazing: In January 2013, fires onboard an All Nippon Airways plane in flight and another Japan Airlines plane parked at Boston Logan caused the FAA to ground the entire fleet. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators said the plane바카라�s batteries had short-circuited and the battery containment design was inadequate. They blamed oversight failures by GS Yuasa, Boeing and the FAA.

Boeing changed the insulation of its batteries to ceramic and added steel housings and tighter voltage controls, but battery issues continued through 2014.

Structural Concerns: In 2021, whistleblowers and Boeing engineers said that there were excessive gaps between fuselage panels, over and above the FAA-approved limits. Boeing voluntarily halted deliveries of planes in 2020 to rework all 787s.

APU Overheating & Software Bug: In 2015 and 2020, software flaws emerged that could cause the power generators on the planes to crash.

Manufacturing Shortcuts & FAA Scrutiny: In April 2024, Boeing engineer and whistleblower Sam Salehpour said that the company had indulged in shortcuts during production. According to Salehpour, over a thousand Dreamliners had improper fastening, stress-exposed joints and hidden debris. The FAA opened an investigation.

The same year, another FAA probe found employees falsifying inspection records. Boeing reported voluntary fleet inspections, saying there was no immediate safety threat but promised stricter oversight.

In June 2025, Boeing reached an out-of-court settlement with the US government, paying over a billion dollars for a fatal Alaskan Airlines crash.

This article is part of Outlook Magazine's July 1, 2025 issue, 'Pre-emptive Unprovoked', which explores India바카라�s fragile borderlands and the human cost of conflict. It appeared in print as 'After Shock'.