Fall of the Maharaja

Between Us

- Pankaj Vohra

The tragic incident of Air India's London-bound flight from Ahmedabad, which left 241 passengers and many on the ground dead, has left the entire world in a state of shock. While the cause of the crash is yet to be determined, the incident is a bad advertisement for the airlines, the Boeing company and experts who may have set the flying coordinates on the computer.

There are already voices which are accusing Air India of negligence and are putting the blame squarely on the Tatas, who had taken over the loss-making and sick airline nearly three years ago. The allegation is that the Tatas have been cutting corners to minimize losses, and thus the efficiency as well as maintenance has deteriorated.

On the other hand, conspiracy theorists are claiming that it was a case of sabotage and the Turkish company which was responsible for ground handling and whose services were discontinued, could be responsible for this unfathomable tragedy.

There are multiple aviation analysts, who seem to have already made up their mind to absolve the Boeing company and are trying to create a perception that it was nothing else but pilot error. All this is happening even before the probe has commenced, and it is obvious that if structural faults were detected in the Dreamliner, the first to have met such a fate, the Boeing company would face a massive loss of face. The shares of the company fell by five percent on the day of the incident.