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 US federal agency, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), responsible for the investigation of aviation accidents and significant transportation events in the country, on Friday (local time) issued a strong rebuke of recent media coverage made over the preliminary investigative report on the aftermath of the ill-fated Air India 171 crash that claimed 260 lives in Gujarat's Ahmedabad last month.
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.
Indian airlines are resuming normal services to Kathmandu after the airport reopened following unrest in Nepal. Air India and IndiGo will operate additional flights to bring back stranded passengers.
Former Union Minister Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju appointed as the Governor of Goa, Kavinder Gupta named as the new Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, and Ashim Kumar Ghosh will be the new Governor of Haryana.
A SpiceJet employee, Mudasir Ahmad Khan, claims he was assaulted by an army officer at Srinagar airport for enforcing baggage rules. He demands action against the officer, while the army says it is cooperating with the investigation.
Helicopters are being used to airlift people stranded in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, following flash floods and landslides. Rescue operations are ongoing, with hundreds evacuated and efforts underway to restore connectivity and power.
An airport operator will be responsible for maintaining overall service standards at an airport, including those delivered by third-party service providers, under new rules being framed by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), its chairman SKG Rahate told aviation stakeholders at a meeting on Wednesday
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked the Congress to tell the nation who prevented India's military response after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks linked to Pakistan, and accused the party of weakening the fight against terrorism when in power.
The Russian agencies concerned are carrying out studies to determine the level of investments they will have to make to manufacture the aircraft in India, defence sources said.
The Indian Air Force's MiG-21 fighter jets made their last operational flights at the Nal Air Force Station in Bikaner, which doubled as a set for the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed film 'Love And War'. The moment marked the jet's last operational flight ahead of its retirement next month.
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.
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.
'... 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?'
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.
'Crude oil prices are around $66-67 per barrel now but could fall to $55-60 if global disturbances ease.'
Turkiye and Azerbaijan backed Pakistan and condemned India's recent strikes on terror camps in that country and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under Operation Sindoor.
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.
'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.'
'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 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.
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 crash site must be secured because something small -- like a pipe or hydraulic line -- could hold a critical clue.'
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 AH-64 Apache is one of the world's most advanced multi-role combat helicopters and is flown by the US Army.
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.
India's last three major commercial aviation accidents --Patna (2000), Mangaluru (2010), and Kozhikode (2020) -- could offer critical safety lessons for the ongoing investigation.
A control room has also been set up in Ahmedabad and the numbers are 9978405304/079-23251900.
'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.'
'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.'
Soon after the takeoff, the pilot of ill-fated Air India aircraft gave a Mayday call to the Ahmedabad air traffic controller.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
