Air India's ill-fated Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed soon after take off from Ahmedabad airport on June 12 underwent comprehensive maintenance checks in June 2023 and was due for the next scheduled comprehensive checks in December this year, according to airline officials.
'They will cover up the failures of all the others.'
The recent helicopter crash near Kedarnath, in which seven lives were lost, has proven yet again that aviation regulatory authorities have not learnt lessons from similar air mishaps in the challenging Kedar valley and have done little to improve flying conditions.
Under the civil aviation ministry, AAIB is responsible for the classification of safety occurrences, involving aircraft operating in the Indian airspace into accidents and serious incidents.
A five-member team, headed by Sanjay Kumar Singh, is probing the fatal crash of the Air India aircraft last month in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has released its preliminary report and appointed the team.
A timeline of events related to the investigation of the Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad, including investigation initiation, black box recovery, and safety measures taken.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing on Saturday said it continues to support the ongoing investigation into the Air India Flight AI171 crash, hours after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary report on the incident that occurred in Ahmedabad.
'... when the process isn't transparent, people will naturally raise questions. 'The AAIB's own press release says they had the black boxes by June 16.' 'Why wasn't decoding initiated until the 24th? What were they waiting for?'
The development also comes against the backdrop of Turkiye backing Pakistan and condemning India's strikes on terror camps in the neighbouring country earlier this month.
Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation has revised its operational guidelines for operators during adverse weather conditions, emphasising that safety should take precedence over 'schedule adherence' and encouraged pilots to divert flights in unpredictable conditions.
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Wednesday reported a 20 per cent decline in profit after tax at Rs 2,176.3 crore for the June quarter as airspace curbs and overall challenging operating environment crimped its bottom line even as the carrier flew 12 per cent more passengers during the period.
'The AAIB will collect every single retrievable piece of the aircraft and transport it to a secure location -- usually a large hangar capable of housing a Boeing 787.' 'The entire aircraft will be laid out, each part marked and tagged, and practically rebuilt like a jigsaw puzzle.'
The only case where there could be a change in insurance payout is if Air India's management were found to be aware of the accident and the accident was deliberate.
Turkiye and Azerbaijan backed Pakistan and condemned India's recent strikes on terror camps in that country and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under Operation Sindoor.
The AH-64 Apache is one of the world's most advanced multi-role combat helicopters and is flown by the US Army.
'It is an indication that they had forgotten to retract the landing gear. That causes heavy drag, and you cannot accelerate or gain height too fast with a hanging gear.'
'The crash site must be secured because something small -- like a pipe or hydraulic line -- could hold a critical clue.'
India's last three major commercial aviation accidents --Patna (2000), Mangaluru (2010), and Kozhikode (2020) -- could offer critical safety lessons for the ongoing investigation.
Mutual funds (MFs) - flush with cash amid record inflows in July - invested heavily in the Rs 25,000-crore qualified institutional placement (QIP) of India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI). Fund managers acquired SBI shares worth Rs 10,200 crore last month, making the lender their biggest buy in July.
Industries such as aviation and hospitality have many silos within them and Aionos, the joint venture between Interglobe Enterprises (IGE) and Assago Group, is an attempt to bridge them and boost efficiencies using artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, Rahul Bhatia told Business Standard on Tuesday. Bhatia, the Group Managing Director of IGE, serves as the majority shareholder in India's largest airline, IndiGo. Additionally, IGE operates 21 hotels under the Ibis brand and runs a logistics company called Movin.
'Visualise those 15 to 18 seconds: Fully loaded aircraft, pilot manually controlling with both hands (no autopilot immediately after takeoff), looking forward while switches are behind.'
'The tone of the preliminary report creates a narrative towards pilot error. This is wrong.' 'Selected conversation has been divulged. It's not as if the pilots did not speak anything else in the cockpit.'
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has directed Air India to carry out additional maintenance actions on its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 planes equipped with Genx engines with immediate effect.
The nationality of the passengers onboard will define the minimum liability applicable to the airline operator as per the Montreal Convention, Prudent Insurance Brokers vice president (aviation & specialty lines) Hitesh Girotra said.
A control room has also been set up in Ahmedabad and the numbers are 9978405304/079-23251900.
It will be too premature to draw conclusions on the role of pilots from the preliminary investigation report into the fatal crash of Air India plane last month and the final report will mention about the most probable cause for the accident, former Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) chief Aurobindo Handa said on Sunday.
'In multi-pilot operations, no critical switch can be moved without the other pilot's consent.'
A preliminary investigation into the Air India Flight 171 crash in Ahmedabad reveals that both fuel switches were cut off before the crash, followed by pilot confusion. The report also indicates that fuel samples were satisfactory and no immediate action is recommended for Boeing 787-8 operators.
Soon after the takeoff, the pilot of ill-fated Air India aircraft gave a Mayday call to the Ahmedabad air traffic controller.
Sources in the government said the roof that collapsed at T1 was constructed during 2008-09 and that the work was contracted out by GMR to private contractors.
"Decoding of the black box is going to give in-depth insight into what happened moments before the plane crash," Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said at a briefing in the national capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met those injured in the Air India plane crash at the civil hospital in Ahmedabad.
The ministry of civil aviation clarified that, contrary to circulating reports, a video recorder that had been recovered at the crash site was not the DFDR.
After a London-bound Air India aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, the spotlight is back on India's history with aviation disasters.
The Air India plane AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London crashed immediately after take-off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, as per the Gujarat State Police Control Room.
Amid mounting safety concerns and the cancellation of at least 66 flights that were to be operated with Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, DGCA officials held a detailed review meeting with top Air India and Air India Express executives.
IndiGo, which operates the largest fleet among Indian carriers, has reported the highest number of serious engine-related incidents.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has urged restraint in speculating about the cause of the Air India plane crash, emphasizing that the investigation is ongoing and premature narratives should be avoided.
A Bangkok-bound Air India flight from Mumbai was held back for over five hours on June 25, after some hay was found stuck in one of the aircraft's wings, the airline has said.
Even as New Delhi turns up the heat on Turkish firms over Ankara's public embrace of Islamabad, Indian companies rooted in Trkiye are staying put. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Dabur India, and Jubilant FoodWorks say it's business as usual, with no plans to alter course despite the geopolitical chill.
