100 days after the AI-I71 jet crash, questions persist

AVIATION DISASTER

- Anjuli Bhargava

Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787, crashed seconds after take-off in Ahmedabad on June 12.

(PT)

Can 260 lives be lost in the blink of an eye, in what is globally acknowledged as one of the safest modes of transport, and nobody be to blame? That's the question that is increasingly being asked, now of the courts —both in the US and in India— by those who directly feel the pain of this tragedy but have found themselves stonewalled and unable to obtain any answers from those who ought to be answering them.

Time and again after the June 12 crash, the Air India brass has publicly absolved itself and reiterated that there were no mechanical or maintenance issues with the aircraft or engine. In state ments issued to the media, the Air India CEO has said : “I suggest we note that the Preliminary Report found no mechanical or maintenance issues with the aircraft or engines, and that all mandatory maintenance tasks had been completed. There was no issue with the quality of fuel and no abnormality with the takeoff roll. The pilots had passed their mandatory pre-flight breathalyser and there were no observations pertaining to their medical status”. In other words, nobody can point a finger towards his airline and its role in the accident. Queries to Boeing and other stakeholders have also been redirected to India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Body, which released the preliminary report on July 12.