India’s worst air disaster

India is reeling from one of the most devastating aviation disasters in its history. Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, plowing into the doctors’ hostel of BJ Medical College in the Meghani Nagar area. Of the total of 242 including 12 crew members on board, except one who miraculously survived, 241 passengers including former chief minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani and crew lost their lives. Even more tragically, the impact claimed many more lives on the ground. The medical college hostel, a place of healing and education, was reduced to rubble in an instant as not only bystanders on the ground but several medical students who were in the hostel at the time were killed. The total death toll could rise to nearly 300, making this a national catastrophe of staggering proportions. In the immediate aftermath, grief and disbelief dominate public sentiment. Entire families perished; children were orphaned; parents lost their sons and daughters. For many, the future now stretches ahead filled not with hope, but with grief. No amount of compensation or government rehabilitation can replace the laughter of a lost child, the support of a spouse, or the comfort of a parent. Only time, and even that cruelly, may dull the pain.The focus now turns to how this could have happened. Flight 171 was operated by a seasoned crew- Captain Sumit Sabharwal, with over 8,200 flying hours, and First Officer Clive Kunder, with 1,100 hours. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, a state-of-the-art aircraft, has long been promoted for its efficiency and safety features. However, that record has come under serious doubt as something went catastrophically wrong.At this early stage, it is both premature and irresponsible to speculate on the cause. Boeing, once the gold standard in aircraft manufacturing, has faced increasing scrutiny over safety lapses in recent years. While the 787 Dreamliner has not been involved in as many high-profile crashes as the 737 MAX, it has had its share of mechanical issues and design-related concerns. This tragedy reinforces the urgent need to revisit aircraft safety protocols, maintenance schedules, and pilot training standards-not just in India, but globally.Air India Flight 171’s crash could not have come at a worse time. In recent years, Air India has undergone a major transition. After years of decline marked by debt, mismanagement, political interference, and bureaucratic decay, the airline was finally privatized and retaken by the Tata Group. But the handover did not include the airline’s historic real estate or heritage assets-only the airline itself, riddled with liabilities and operational dysfunction. In many ways, the Tatas inherited an institution in the ICU: depleted, aging, and in desperate need of revival. Tatas is yet to get its act together as it struggles with a growing list of issues that plagued Air India -from poor maintenance practices to an aging fleet. All these have pushed Tatas into a position where it is facing a reputational crisis. For Indian aviation, the crash also highlights the importance of rigorous oversight and crisis preparedness. Urban airports, surrounded by densely populated areas, pose unique challenges. This disaster shows what is at stake when things go wrong –about lives not just in the air, but on the ground.