On a Wing and a Long Prayer

An Air India flight's crash in June and IndiGo's meltdown in December laid bare how India's aviation sector is becoming a victim of escalating ambition, weak oversight and regulatory lapse

- By M.G. ARUN

When the Tata Group acquired Air India in 2022 as part of the government's divestment effort, hope had soared that the national airline would now see a professional hand.

But those expectations dashed to the ground along with Flight 171 on June 12, when a London Gatwick-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 people on board and 19 on the ground.

An interim report, to be published mandatorily within a month of a disaster, did not blame anyone. The 15-page document released by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau in July referred to a last-minute exchange between the captain and first officer, captured on the flight recorder. According to the report, the fuel switches of both engines were in the 'cutoff' position, with one pilot heard asking the other why he had cut them off, and the other responding that he had not.