Satinder Singh Sandhu, a supervisor with 108 Emergency Services, recounts the horrific scenes and his biggest regret from the AI-171 plane crash in Ahmedabad, which claimed 260 lives.
Ahmedabad's Chief Fire Officer, Amit Dongre, reflected on the Air India flight AI-171 crash a year ago, describing the 10-hour rescue operation as the most challenging in his 22-year career, despite the tragic loss of 260 lives.
Residents of Meghaninagar vividly remember the explosion that shook the neighbourhood on the afternoon of June 12, 2025. An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London had crashed into the hostel blocks of B J Medical College. A massive fire broke out, sending clouds of smoke into the sky.
...reopen for up to six months. Until then, the Strait stays nearly closed. The world pays. And no one, including the man who started this, can say when it ends, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
'In any aviation emergency, the first rule is aviate -- fly the aircraft.' 'The fact that the commander's voice is not on the recording simply means he was focused entirely on flying. It does not imply anything more than that.'
Pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers are responsible for planning and conducting flights, and these decisions must rely on technical judgment rather than external influence.
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.
Residents of Ahmedabad recall the Air India crash of June 2025 after news of the Baramati plane crash involving Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. The earlier tragedy, which killed hundreds, remains a painful memory for those who witnessed it and lost loved ones.
The 'rescue' operation occurred within kilometres of Iran's underground tunnel complex at Isfahan, assessed by the IAEA and US intelligence as holding a substantial portion of the country's 60 per cent enriched uranium stockpile. Retired senior US military officers have highlighted that the mission's footprint -- hundreds of special operators, multiple heavy-lift aircraft deep inside Iran -- appears outsized for recovering a single airman. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
'IndiGo will receive a sharp rap on the knuckles -- a punishment, a huge penalty. 'I look towards them creating a compensation fund.' 'I would like to think they would do that for all the passengers who are affected on every single day since cancellations began.'
What we are watching is something different: A fog manufactured and maintained by the people who started the war, so that the question of why it was started never has to be answered, observes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the war in the Middle East.
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.
Pilot groups have accused the AAIB of portraying the pilots as responsible for the incident, with vague and selective presentation of cockpit conversations.
'This was textbook emergency response under stress.'
'The switch can't be shut off by an accidental brush of the hand, but needs effort, conscious physical action to operate it.' 'Was it the software of the aeroplane that caused the switch to turn off?' 'Was it the hardware of the aeroplane?' 'Was it both software and hardware put together?'
India's last three major commercial aviation accidents --Patna (2000), Mangaluru (2010), and Kozhikode (2020) -- could offer critical safety lessons for the ongoing investigation.
Besides, the carrier is having a technical stop in Kolkata for some of the North America flights from Delhi, they added.
'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.'
An Air India aircraft with 242 passengers on board heading to London crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, the police said.
In a statement, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the airport and emergency teams responded swiftly and effectively after a full emergency was declared at 18.05 hours.
Flights from Delhi or Bengaluru, while they may still fly over Iran, depending on the route, have alternative paths that may take them through Central Asia or northern routes.
The only fuel that showed growth was LPG as the government dole of free cooking gas cylinders to poor households fired up consumption by 21 per cent during April 1 to 15.
Wing Commander Raveendran and flight steward Sargeant Iyer, though shaken and injured, managed to open the rear door of the aircraft and shouted for Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the passengers in the forward cabin to exit in haste since they suspected that fire would engulf the aircraft.
Wing Commander Pratap Marathe's story is one of dedication, bravery, and humour, a shining example of the spirit of the Indian Air Force. Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd) salutes Wing Commander Marathe who passed into the ages last week.
President Droupadi Murmu conferred 26 Shaurya Chakras (seven posthumous) to personnel of the armed forces, Central Armed Police Forces and state/Union Territory Police during a defence investiture ceremony.
The attack did not result in any human losses, it said, adding that the remnants of the intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles fell in separate areas around Abu Dhabi.
SpiceJet has failed to 'establish safe, efficient and reliable air services' under the terms of Rule 134 and Schedule XI of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, the notice issued by the DGCA stated.
The two episodes on a single day have taken the total number of technical malfunction incidents involving SpiceJet aircraft to seven in the last 17 days.
Aviation regulator DGCA conducted 53 spot checks on 48 SpiceJet aircraft between July 9 and July 13 and it did not find any major safety violations, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Monday. "However, as a safety measure, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered SpiceJet to use certain identified aircraft (10) for operations only after confirming to the regulator that all reported defects/malfunctions are rectified," Singh said in his written reply in Rajya Sabha. SpiceJet planes were involved in at least eight technical malfunction incidents in the 18-day period starting June 19, following which the DGCA had on July 6 issued a show-cause notice to the airline, stating that "poor internal safety oversight" and "inadequate maintenance actions" have resulted in degradation of safety margins.
Air travel will now become a little expensive as the government has decided to increase the lower limit on airfares by five per cent amid rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday. The upper limit on airfares will remain as it is for now. Just a month back, the Centre had increased the lower and upper limits on domestic airfares by 10-30 per cent due to rising ATF prices. While announcing resumption of scheduled domestic flights in May last year, the aviation ministry had placed limits on airfares through seven bands classified on the basis of flight duration.
During these eight weeks, the budget carrier will be subjected to "enhanced surveillance" by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Failure to reinstate salary even two years after the drastic cuts has landed the airline industry in a massive industrial relation crisis. While employees of Air India had organised a strike back in 2011, it is for the first time that private airlines are facing serious stress related to workers. IndiGo witnessed two of them, back to back. In the first instance, around 50 per cent of the IndiGo flights were delayed as a large number of crew members went on mass sick leave, apparently to participate in a rival airline's walk-in job interview.
The whereabouts of Mahinda Rajapaksa is being speculated since his resignation on Monday.
This is at least the ninth incident of technical malfunction on a SpiceJet aircraft in the last 40 days.
After the accident on Friday, Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor alleged on Twitter that there were safety lapses on the part of the civil aviation ministry.
But demand has shown signs of pick up in the last 10 days of April after the government allowed resumption of economic activity beyond the urban municipal limit.
'The simultaneous fire from so many guns rained down on the enemy and pulverised them, a sight I can never forget till my last breath.'
TMC asks why the flight was made to hover in the sky despite reporting a fuel shortage.
An Indian-origin doctor was among the first who came to Harrison Ford's aid immediately after seeing his plane crash-land on a Los Angeles golf course.
The final hearing in the case at the London magistrate's court to extradite Mallya to India is scheduled later this month.
