Ahmedabad- On June 12, 2025, Air India flight AI171 took off from Ahmedabad at 1:38 p.m., en route to London Gatwick. Aboard the Boeing 787‑8 Dreamliner were 242 passengers and crew, including Indian, British, Portuguese, and Canadian nationals. Within moments of take-off, the aircraft crashed into the hostel building of BJ Medical College in Meghani Nagar, striking during lunchtime and leaving behind a trail of devastation. All but one of the 242 on board perished, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British-Indian seated in 11A, is the sole known survivor. Dozens of students inside the hostel’s mess hall also lost their lives. What was supposed to be a routine international flight turned into a horrifying tragedy. Yet as investigators piece together the aftermath, one fact is already clear: this was no bolt from the blue. The disaster was, in many ways, foretold by engineers, whistleblowers, journalists, and a decade’s worth of warnings.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, particularly the 787-8 variant involved in the AI171 crash, has carried with it a well-documented history of safety concerns. These are not vague murmurs, they are concrete, public, and damning. In 2013, as reported by Wired, multiple incidents of onboard battery fires prompted aviation authorities around the world to ground the entire Dreamliner fleet. Lithium-ion battery malfunctions had caused smoke and fire in several aircraft, forcing Boeing and the FAA to take emergency measures. Between 2020 and 2022, Boeing was again forced to halt deliveries of the Dreamliner. This time, internal inspections revealed structural flaws: gaps in the fuselage, improperly joined body sections, and signs of manufacturing shortcuts. Aviation Week, Firstpost, and NewsBytes India all reported on the inconsistencies, highlighting growing concerns within engineering circles. The issue didn’t stop there. In 2024, Boeing engineer and whistleblower Sam Salehpour went public, stating that the company routinely engaged in unsafe assembly practices. In an interview with CNN, he alleged that workers were seen jumping on fuselage parts to force them into place. “That’s not how you build an airplane,” Salehpour said. He warned that the improper fastening of fuselage sections could lead to mid-flight disintegration after repeated use. These claims were echoed by other whistleblowers, and reported by India Today, SAN.com, and Airspace Africa. In March 2024, former Boeing quality manager John Barnett died by suicide during a deposition. He had long raised alarms about manufacturing defects in both the 787 and 737 Max models. His death became a chilling symbol of a company where internal accountability had all but collapsed.
The Mooknayak reached out to a commercial pilot currently flying international routes, who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity. In a candid conversation, she unpacked the gravity of the crisis surrounding Boeing aircraft in particular, the 787-8 Dreamliner and explained why industry insiders are deeply concerned.
On being asked about Boeing's legacy of compromise the pilot said, “We’ve known for a long time that the 737 Max was a disaster. Boeing built it to compete with the Airbus A321, and it backfired catastrophically. Multiple crashes happened, but there was no real accountability for the loss of life.” “What’s happening with the 787 now, this is the first time a Dreamliner has crashed. And I won’t be surprised if they try to pin it all on pilot error. That’s what aviation does, it’s always about money and cover-ups,” she added.
“Trust is shaken. When manufacturers and regulators don’t prioritise safety, pilots are left flying aircraft they know have underlying issues. Both the 737 and 787 models have been compromised in different ways.” When asked what factors could lead to a crash immediately after takeoff, as seen in the recent AI171 incident, the pilot emphasised that this is the most critical phase of flight: “Takeoff and landing are the two most dangerous times. During landing, you're essentially preventing a crash. During takeoff, any small issue, like a bird strike or engine failure, can escalate quickly,” she explained.
The pilot noted that even in the event of an engine failure, the aircraft is designed to fly safely with one engine, and pilots are trained to handle such situations. “We have simulator checks every few months in simulators to deal with a range of scenarios, engine failure, flap issues, electronic malfunctions. The aircraft can fly with one engine; hydraulics, pressurisation, all systems can still function. But we do not risk it, we land as soon as possible. Because if the second engine fails, you’re done. So, it’s not that we can’t fly, it’s that we cannot risk the second engine failing.” The pilot flagged a more disturbing pattern, routine coercion of staff to fly aircraft that should not be in service.
“In airlines in India, it’s become common to fly aircraft that are not fully fit to fly. Something may not be working, but they’ll say it’s still ‘technically’ flyable. That’s not safe, but it's happening more and more. Pilots are penalised for raising concerns or refusing to fly a faulty aircraft.”
“The easy thing is to blame the pilot. But where do you start the blame, really? Boeing gave us aircraft with manufacturing defects. Airlines want profits and cut corners. Regulators get paid off. Engineers are pressured to sign off. And the pilot is the last stop. So when there’s a crash, everyone says: ‘what did the pilot do wrong?’ But no one asks: ‘what were they made to fly?’” Asked what pilots can realistically do if something goes wrong mid-air immediately after takeoff, the pilot said that while commercial aviators are rigorously trained for critical scenarios, there are limits to what even the most skilled crews can manage under catastrophic failure.
“In those seconds after takeoff, if both engines fail, if the systems are down, physics will beat skill. Yes, we’re trained. But sometimes there’s no time. If something unexpected happens, even if we know what’s going wrong, there’s very little anyone can do. The captain of AI171 had 8200 hours of experience. That’s not a novice. I believe he did everything he could. In the CCTV footage of the incident it is clearly seen that the nose of the aircraft was up even when it crashed which means the caption was still trying to control the aircraft which unfortunately crashed”
On structural damage, like fuselage gaps or assembly defects: “We do walkarounds. We try to spot any damage. But you can’t always see what’s wrong from the outside. Some flaws like the whistleblowers have been warning about, are internal.” The pilot also cast doubt on the official investigation's ability to bring out the truth: “It’s anyone’s guess what happened in those 42 seconds. Structural failure? Flap malfunction? Total system loss? But unless there’s true transparency in this investigation, which rarely happens when big corporations are involved, we may never get the real answer.” On what’s missing from the public conversation: “Accountability,” the pilot said firmly. “Everyone’s busy speculating, some are blaming the pilots, but the real question is being ignored. Who is responsible for this massive tragedy? Why are aircraft not properly maintained? Why are planes flying in such bad shape? The least we can do, the absolute minimum, is ask for accountability.”
When Tata Group took over Air India in 2022, the government hailed it as the beginning of a new era for Indian aviation. But inheriting a national carrier also means inheriting responsibility. It is no longer sufficient to blame Boeing alone. Tata’s Air India chose to continue operating the 787-8 model despite its history. And while Boeing’s culpability is immense, the silence of the airline, the lack of transparent aircraft audits, and the absence of a precautionary grounding raise serious questions. Was it negligence? Or was it the pursuit of efficiency and profit margins over human safety?
Air India has issued a generic statement promising cooperation with authorities. But no top executive has yet explained why these aircraft were deemed safe to fly in the first place. The role of regulators, both domestic and international, must also be scrutinized. India’s DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) and the US FAA have both been accused in the past of enabling Boeing’s aggressive production timelines without enforcing adequate checks. The same pattern was seen with the 737 Max, which crashed twice before being grounded.
Why were the Dreamliner warnings treated as less urgent? If repeated red flags from engineers and fatal past experiences weren’t enough to trigger meaningful oversight, what will it take?
In the aftermath of the crash, Union Home Minister Amit Shah met with the lone survivor, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, and later confirmed that DNA tests were underway to establish the identities of all 242 deceased victims. With the crash site leaving bodies charred and unrecognizable, identification has become a painstaking and sensitive process for authorities and grieving families alike.
The Tata Group, which owns Air India, announced a compensation of ₹1 crore for the kin of each victim. Separately, under the Montreal Convention, a treaty that governs international aviation liability, Air India may be required to pay around ₹1.5 crore per victim. The aircraft itself was insured, and the total compensation to affected families is likely to reach ₹360 crore.
As of late Friday evening, the aircraft's black box has been recovered from the roof of the medical hostel the plane crashed into, comprising the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR), both of which are critical to reconstructing what led to the deadly crash. These devices store crucial technical data and in-flight cockpit conversations that can reveal whether the tragedy was caused by mechanical failure, human error, or something more systemic.
While the exact cause remains officially unconfirmed, the urgency to analyse the black box signals the start of a long and complex investigation, one that must reckon not just with the technical triggers of the crash, but with the structural failures that allowed a troubled aircraft to keep flying.
The passengers of AI171 boarded a scheduled international flight operated by a globally recognized airline. They had no reason to believe that the aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, carried a long history of flagged manufacturing defects, prior grounding orders, and ongoing scrutiny from aviation regulators and whistleblowers. For them, this was not a risk. It was routine. Yet what unfolded was anything but.
This tragedy serves as a chilling reminder that even in regulated industries like commercial aviation, safety is not always guaranteed. And when oversight weakens, or concerns go unheeded, lives can be lost not because of unavoidable accidents, but because known risks were left unresolved. One year before the crash, a Boeing engineer had raised serious concerns about structural flaws in the 787 series, warning that faulty assembly methods could cause fuselage sections to fail mid-air. These claims were reported across global media. Regulators were notified. Yet the planes remained in service.
The passengers of AI171 were never informed. They never had the choice to opt out. And today, their names form part of a growing list of tragedies tied to preventable failure-failures that raise serious questions about regulatory will, corporate responsibility, and the systems meant to protect the flying public.
As investigations into AI171 continue, the public deserves more than condolences. We deserve answers. Why did Tata’s Air India continue to operate a compromised aircraft model? Why did regulators remain silent despite global red flags? And why does Boeing still get to dominate the skies despite its record of ignored warnings, whistleblower retaliation, and tragic loss? Until these questions are answered with more than press releases, the skies will remain crowded with not just planes, but with negligence. Among the 242 lives lost of those on the passenger manifest were people headed home to their children, reuniting with spouses, beginning new jobs, traveling for medical care, and chasing long-awaited dreams. They never got a chance to fight for their lives because the system meant to protect them failed without warning. The least we owe them now is to demand accountability from corporations, regulators, and governments alike. Because without it, safety will remain a privilege, and every passenger will keep flying with uncertainty stitched into their boarding pass.
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