Online Reporter
The Air India tragedy in Ahmedabad is the first time a Boeing 787 Dreamliner has crashed since the plane’s introduction in 2011.
Before the crash yesterday, images show the plane’s nose in the air, indicating the pilots were trying to keep it aloft, although the landing gear was apparently lowered.
While airlines using the Boeing plane have had widespread problems with engines on the 787 – resulting in many having to ground planes and reduce flights – the 787’s safety record in service has so far been good.
However, the US safety regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has had to investigate several concerns over the years, including a mid-air dive on a Latam flight last year.
A whistleblower last year also urged Boeing to ground all 787 Dreamliners worldwide, in Washington hearings. Boeing rejected the claims by the former engineer and said it was fully confident in the plane.
There are more than 1 100 Boeing 787s in service, with most major international airlines using them. The model has been prized for its far better fuel efficiency and lower noise than the types it replaced.
The two major crashes that were due to faults on Boeing planes were using the then new 737 Max model, in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019. That model was taken out of service for almost a year, before being relaunched and returned to widespread use.
The last Air India crash, in August 2020, involved a smaller Boeing 737-800 Air India Express that was landing at Calicut airport in bad weather when it skidded off the runway.
Plane crashes are statistically most likely to happen during landing or take-off, but experts said there appeared to be no obvious explanation for the crash. Weather conditions were benign.
David Gleave, a former accident investigator, told the BBC: “It’s a very unusual accident … it’s a very unusual situation, so soon after take-off, and it is a very safe aeroplane.”
John McDermid, a professor at the University of York, said: “Pilots can abort take-off until quite late. So it seems like the problem occurred very suddenly … and was sufficiently serious to be unmanageable.” – Guardian
