Amid deliberations on aviation safety, a need to pay heed to past warnings

This is perhaps the piece one looks least forward to writing as a journalist who has covered or a columnist who has offered opinion on the aviation sector for over a quarter of a century.

- Anjuli Bhargava

This is perhaps the piece one looks least forward to writing as a journalist who has covered or a columnist who has offered opinion on the aviation sector for over a quarter of a century. So as I put pen to paper (or in fact fingers to keyboard), I'll begin by borrowing a few words already uttered by the Tata chairman in the same context: this is definitely one of the worst subjects that I am forced to address, one I had hoped I would never be required to do.

Yet here we are. The tragic air crash on Thursday, June 12, has been all over the news and I need not elaborate on any of the details that have so far emerged. Timing wise, it was ironic occurring as it did a few days after we as a nation had finished patting ourselves on the back at the IATA summit held in the Capital, the global body expressing confidence in India's aviation safety practices.

A day after, in what the industry termed a knee-jerk reaction, the DGCA ordered an enhanced safety inspection on Air India's Boeing 787-8/9 fleet, which raised many questions including whether the authorities expected a similar accident to play out on another of the aircraft operated by Air India. A second high-level multi-disciplinary committee headed by the Union home secretary was also set up on June 13, which will act in parallel to the accident investigation committees to focus on formulating SOPs for preventing and handling such occurrences in the future.