Source: The post India must fix deep flaws in aviation safety system has been created, based on the article “The rot starts at the top of the aviation ladder” published in “The Hindu” on 14 June 2025. India must fix deep flaws in aviation safety system.
UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper3-Infrastructure
Context: The crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, highlights longstanding failures in India’s aviation safety system. Despite repeated warnings and previous fatal accidents, systemic issues like poor accountability, political interference, and disregard for safety standards persist across aviation institutions, endangering countless lives.
Systemic Rot in Aviation Safety Oversight
- Neglect by Regulatory Authorities: India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI), and airlines have repeatedly ignored calls to improve training and safety. These institutions function amid corruption and political manipulation, prioritizing image over actual safety.
- Pattern of Zero Accountability: Historically, pilots are solely blamed for accidents while higher authorities escape scrutiny. Successive fatal accidents—including those in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020—have not led to structural reform. The same officials retain positions, enabling continued safety lapses.
- Judicial Apathy and Institutional Failure: Legal interventions have failed to hold officials accountable. After the 2010 Mangaluru crash, a Supreme Court Bench dismissed a petition with safety violation evidence by routing it back to MoCA, eroding public confidence in legal redress.
Failures Highlighted in the Ahmedabad Crash
- Violation of ICAO Norms: The DGCA violated global aviation protocol by publicly naming pilots involved in the crash. This move disregards International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, which protect crew identities until official investigation findings are released.
- Bureaucratic Appointments in Critical Roles: Appointments of bureaucrats instead of aviation professionals to head DGCA and AAI continue to undermine institutional credibility and technical competency.
- Weak Investigative Standards: Accident investigations are often compromised. Officials known to align with political narratives are selected, ensuring pilots are blamed regardless of underlying causes.
Technical Clues from Visual Evidence
- Bird Ingestion as a Likely Trigger: Videos and survivor accounts suggest that birds near the runway could have been sucked into both engines, leading to a compressor stall. This could explain the low climb rate, high nose angle, and eventual stall before impact.
- Runway and Surrounding Hazards: Poor monsoon preparedness is evident. Overgrown grass near the runway may have attracted birds. Additionally, a tall building near the take-off path, which the aircraft struck, raises concerns over obstacle clearance and urban encroachment.
- Possible Human Factor Errors: The aircraft’s landing gear was not retracted during flight. Investigators speculate a possible “startle effect” or inexperience during a training flight scenario, compounded by partial thrust loss, may have prevented standard post-takeoff actions.
Need for Deeper Investigative Focus
- Foreign Object Damage as a Cause: The article suggests exploring whether debris on the runway caused damage, similar to the Air France Concorde crash in 2000, which was triggered by a metallic strip puncturing the aircraft’s tyre and fuel tank.
- Global Oversight in Ongoing Probe: With U.S. and U.K. investigation teams involved, the scope of the inquiry includes structural hazards like the building’s proximity to the flight path, stressing the need to scrutinize construction clearances.
- A Chance to Reform or Repeat: The crash should act as a final warning to overhaul India’s aviation safety regime. However, given past patterns, it remains uncertain whether meaningful lessons will be drawn from this tragedy.
Question for practice:
Evaluate the systemic failures in India’s aviation oversight that contributed to the Air India AI171 crash in Ahmedabad.
