'It is most pertinent to note that in over 25 years of flying, Captain Sabharwal had not had a single incident or accident-causing fatalities or otherwise'
60 years ago, on January 24, 1966, Dr Homi J Bhabha, the father of India's nuclear programme, died in an air crash on Mont Blanc. The official inquiry said the plane went off course in bad weather, but coincidences, missing evidence, and later unproven claims have kept conspiracy theories alive. A fascinating excerpt from Bakhtiar Dadabhoy's book, Homi J Bhabha: A Life.
The Boeing 787-8 aircraft -- VT-ANB -- was 11.5 years old and had flown for more than 41,000 hours, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The pilot of the twin-engine wide bodied aircraft issued a 'Mayday' distress call, denoting a full emergency, soon after takeoff at 1.39 pm, the Air Traffic Control at Ahmedabad said.
Aviation regulator DGCA has issued four show cause notices to Air India for various violations related to cabin crew rest and duty norms, cabin crew training rules and operational procedures, a month after the airline made certain voluntary disclosures to the watchdog.
Air India Group expects to induct 26 wide-body and narrow-body planes, and operate 81 per cent of its international flights with upgraded aircraft by the end of 2026, while overall capacity will remain almost unchanged next year.
'This (crash) is one of those times where there is no concrete explanation yet for what happened. I think that adds to my parents' worry.'
An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner experienced an uncommanded deployment of its Ram Air Turbine (RAT) shortly before landing. The DGCA is investigating the incident, raising safety concerns.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is 'totally unbiased' and is carrying out a definitive and thorough rule-based probe to find out what exactly led to the Air India plane crash that killed 260 people last month, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Soon after the takeoff, the pilot of ill-fated Air India aircraft gave a Mayday call to the Ahmedabad air traffic controller.
Father of deceased pilot and Federation of Indian Pilots petition Supreme Court for a court-monitored inquiry into the Air India flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad.
The last rites of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, pilot in command of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, were performed in Mumbai on Tuesday with his grief-stricken father bidding a heart-wrenching, tearful farewell to his son before the cremation.
'Who gave the Tatas the right to discontinue technically sound practices related to safety and security?'
'In 50 seconds, the pilots were fighting drag, trying relight, throttling up and avoiding obstacles.' 'They had neither height nor speed. There was no margin.'
Hundreds of people, including inconsolable family members and friends, gave an emotional farewell to First Officer Clive Kunder, co-pilot of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, and flight attendant Roshni Songhare whose last rites were held on Thursday.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday suspended Air India's Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai after finding certain alleged lapses during a spot check, a DGCA official said. The pilots, who were scheduled to undergo refresher courses at the Mumbai facility, will now not be able to do so.
The 2013 Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook, a bellwether industry forecast of aviation personnel demand, calls for 192,300 new commercial airline pilots and 215,300 new technicians in the Asia Pacific region through 2032.
An aviation expert suggests investigators should focus on a possible fault in the stabiliser of the crashed Air India flight.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu assures a clean investigation into the Air India plane crash, dismissing concerns of manipulation. The statement follows calls for a judicial probe and criticism of selective leaks from the preliminary report.
InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of IndiGo, has approached the Delhi high court seeking a refund of over Rs 900 crore it claims to have paid as Customs duty on aircraft engines and parts re-imported into India after overseas repairs. The petition came up for hearing on Friday before a bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Shail Jain.
The Supreme Court has raised concerns about the preliminary report on the Air India crash and has asked for a more independent and thorough investigation.
Families of victims of the Air India plane crash have hired a US law firm to explore legal options, seeking answers and accountability.
'The real story of 2025 is that India officially stopped being a 'market of the future' and started acting as the world's primary economic engine.'
'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.'
It takes only two hours - roughly the time it takes for a plane to fly from Delhi to Mumbai - for a pair of pilots to complete their training on the 737 MAX simulator at Boeing's centre in Noida, the only one of its kind in India. Going by this estimate, all the 90 Spicejet pilots who the civil aviation regulator barred from flying the 737 MAX can be retrained in 90 hours.
'We're always looking at how we can keep improving, keep getting better, and keep learning.'
We celebrate the pioneering achievements of Captain Durba Banerjee and Avani Chaturvedi, leaders in Indian aviation.
The Supreme Court has criticized the selective publication of a preliminary report on the Air India crash, calling it 'unfortunate and irresponsible'. The court raised concerns about privacy, dignity of victims' families, and the potential for biased narratives.
'Who tried engine relight?' 'If the first officer was the one flying at takeoff, the captain may have taken control immediately post-thrust loss.' 'But the AAIB report doesn't clarify any of this.'
"When the fuel control switch has to be cut off, the pilot flying will say, fuel control switch left, confirm. So, after the confirmation is made by the second pilot, the pilot monitoring will cut off (the switch).
Aviation expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan claims human error led to the Air India plane crash and calls for more transparency in the AAIB's preliminary report.
'Earlier, the NTSB was actively flagging technical issues with Boeing. But now, the narrative is shifting toward 'human error'.' 'That term is often misunderstood -- it could mean pilots, engineers, refueling staff -- anyone.' 'But this framing ('human error') conveniently steers the conversation away from mechanical or design faults.'
Air India pilots said Ahmedabad airport has long been known for bird activity near the runway, which could have contributed to the incident.
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Tuesday reported a loss of Rs 2,582.10 crore in the September quarter as higher forex losses and expenses impacted the bottom line, and it expects to induct the first long range Airbus A321 XLR aircraft in December. The airline, which had a loss of Rs 986.7 crore in the year-ago period, said hedging actions and more revenues in foreign currencies from international operations will help cushion the currency movements.
'For the moment, we have barred these pilots from flying the Max and they have to retrain successfully for flying the aircraft,' DGCA chief Arun Kumar said in a statement.
Pilots typically operate the fuel control switches during two key phases: At engine start-up on the ground and during engine shutdown after landing.
'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 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.
'... 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?'
India's last three major commercial aviation accidents --Patna (2000), Mangaluru (2010), and Kozhikode (2020) -- could offer critical safety lessons for the ongoing investigation.
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