{"id":340372,"date":"2025-06-14T18:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T12:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=340372"},"modified":"2025-06-15T19:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T14:11:09","slug":"india-must-fix-deep-flaws-in-aviation-safety-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/india-must-fix-deep-flaws-in-aviation-safety-system\/","title":{"rendered":"India must fix deep flaws in aviation safety system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/strong>: The post India must fix deep flaws in aviation safety system has been created, based on the article \u201cThe rot starts at the top of the aviation ladder<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu<\/strong>\u201d on 14 June 2025. India must fix deep flaws in aviation safety system.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"India<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic:<\/strong> GS Paper3-Infrastructure<\/p>\n

Context:<\/strong> The crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, highlights longstanding failures in India\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Systemic Rot in Aviation Safety Oversight<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Neglect by Regulatory Authorities:<\/strong> India\u2019s 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.<\/li>\n
  2. Pattern of Zero Accountability:<\/strong> Historically, pilots are solely blamed for accidents while higher authorities escape scrutiny. Successive fatal accidents\u2014including those in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020\u2014have not led to structural reform. The same officials retain positions, enabling continued safety lapses.<\/li>\n
  3. Judicial Apathy and Institutional Failure:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Failures Highlighted in the Ahmedabad Crash<\/strong><\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Violation of ICAO Norms:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n
    2. Bureaucratic Appointments in Critical Roles:<\/strong> Appointments of bureaucrats instead of aviation professionals to head DGCA and AAI continue to undermine institutional credibility and technical competency.<\/li>\n
    3. Weak Investigative Standards:<\/strong> Accident investigations are often compromised. Officials known to align with political narratives are selected, ensuring pilots are blamed regardless of underlying causes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Technical Clues from Visual Evidence<\/strong><\/h2>\n
        \n
      1. Bird Ingestion as a Likely Trigger:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n
      2. Runway and Surrounding Hazards:<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n
      3. Possible Human Factor Errors:<\/strong> The aircraft\u2019s landing gear was not retracted during flight. Investigators speculate a possible \u201cstartle effect\u201d or inexperience during a training flight scenario, compounded by partial thrust loss, may have prevented standard post-takeoff actions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Need for Deeper Investigative Focus<\/strong><\/h2>\n
          \n
        1. Foreign Object Damage as a Cause:<\/strong> 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\u2019s tyre and fuel tank.<\/li>\n
        2. Global Oversight in Ongoing Probe:<\/strong> With U.S. and U.K. investigation teams involved, the scope of the inquiry includes structural hazards like the building\u2019s proximity to the flight path, stressing the need to scrutinize construction clearances.<\/li>\n
        3. A Chance to Reform or Repeat:<\/strong> The crash should act as a final warning to overhaul India\u2019s aviation safety regime. However, given past patterns, it remains uncertain whether meaningful lessons will be drawn from this tragedy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Evaluate<\/strong> the systemic failures in India\u2019s aviation oversight that contributed to the Air India AI171 crash in Ahmedabad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Source: The post India must fix deep flaws in aviation safety system has been created, based on the article \u201cThe rot starts at the top of the aviation ladder\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 14 June 2025. India must fix deep flaws in aviation safety system. UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper3-Infrastructure Context: The crash of… Continue reading India must fix deep flaws in aviation safety system<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":340482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230],"tags":[216,299,10498],"class_list":["post-340372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-infrastructure","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/India-must-fix-deep-flaws-in-aviation-safety-system.png?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}