The crash of the Boeing 787 in India happened with a large number of people on board
The Mumbai, India, crash site of the first Boeing 717 Dreamliner and implications for the safety of its international airline passengers involving a Boeing plane
Five minutes after take-off, an Air India flight, a Boeing 717, crashed into a residential area, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation told The Associated Press.
Visuals on local television channels showed smoke billowing from the crash site near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city with a population of more than 5 million.
India’s Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Rescue teams have been dispatched, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support at the site, said Naidu Kinjarapu on X.
The 787 Dreamliner is a widebody, twin-engine plane. The Aviation Safety Network database says this is the first crash of a Boeing plane.
The crash adds to Boeing’s woes — its reputation has been battered after two deadly accidents involving its 737 Max 8; one in 2019 where an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed, killing all 149 people abroad and in October 2018, where a Lion Air flight crashed in the sea near the Indonesian capital Jakarta, killing all 189 passengers onboard.
Boeing will have to pay a fine, contribute to a fund for the families of the victims and invest in safety and quality programs as part of the deal. The deal, which must still be approved by a judge, was opposed by many of the families of the crash victims.
The airplane manufacturer has faced other prominent safety issues. In January 2024, passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight were exposed to strong winds when a hole blew open on a Boeing plane. Boeing told regulators in August that it would change the panels.
The crash of flight AI171 at 787: a turning-around year for Boeing, the Associated Press, and the press trust of India
The company released better-than- expected quarterly financial results in April, and in a message to employees, the company’s chief executive said it was a “turnaround year”.
Footage posted by the outlet Press Trust of India showed the plane sinking over a residential quarter and then the sound of a blast, and a ball of fire. The Press Trust then shared images of medics rushing casualties on stretchers. The plane crashed just five minutes after taking off, according to Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the directorate of civil aviation, who spoke to The Associated Press.
“We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them,” Boeing said after the crash. “Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected.”
A hospital official who was not authorized to speak to the media said, “Unfortunately, people hit by the plane or parts of the plane may also be Casualties.” The cafeteria where the male students of theBJ Medical College were staying was hit by the plane. She said that the hospital was taking casualties.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the chairman of the Tata Group that operates Air India said, in a statement that flight AI171 was involved in a “tragic incident.” He said the conglomerate was assisting the emergency response teams and providing care and support to those impacted. The airport where the flight was supposed to have disembarked has halted operations.
Concerns have been raised about the plane’s carbon fiber structure. There were problems with the way parts of the plane were fastened together. The Boeing engineer warned that production cuts could shorten the lifespan of the plane, eventually causing the fuselage to fall apart in flight.
Boeing had a change of heart on those allegations. Engineering executives at the company defended the integrity of the 787’s fuselage, saying they had conducted extensive testing with no findings of fatigue in the composite fuselage.
The entire fleet of the 787 was stopped for more than three months after two of the aircraft caught fire with the same type of batteries. Boeing had to create a metal box that would surround the batteries in order to stop fires from spreading.
VT-ANB: A passenger jet built for Air India and the Dreamliner, a high-resolution investigation of the 1972 plane crash
The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday morning via X that the agency will lead a team of U.S. investigators to assist in the crash investigation.
Some aviation experts also noted that the wing flaps on the Dreamliner did not appear to be extended. The flaps are extended during takeoff to increase lift and stall speed.
“Perhaps the engines were not putting out the amount of power they needed to be putting out,” Guzzetti said, “although I don’t see smoke or burping or flames coming from the engines. It could be a programming issue with the engines.
Boeing and Air India have a long-standing relationship, with the airline taking delivery of its first Boeing jet, a 707-437, in 1960, according to India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Flight 171 used the full length of runway 23 at the airport before departing early Thursday afternoon local time.
In the past week, the airliner has completed at least 11 international trips, with destinations such as Paris, Berlin, and Madrid, to name a few.
The 11-year-old jet had accumulated more than 41,000 hours of flying time, and almost 8,000 takeoffs and landings, which is average for an aircraft of its age, according to Cirium.
VT-ANB is the registered number for Flight 171. The aircraft was manufactured in Seattle and delivered to Air India, according to data from the aviation analytics firm.
“It just appears to me that the airplane is unable to climb,” former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Jeff Guzzetti told NPR, reacting to videos that apparently captured the moments before the crash. “It was able to take off from the runway and get up to 500 feet, but it just wasn’t able to climb after that.”