On June 12, 2025, Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (VT-ANB), catastrophically crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The aircraft was en route to London with 230 passengers and 12 crew members onboard. An engineering marvel gone awry. A journey that commenced to soar in the skies unfortunately met an untimely fate with Mother Earth. Sadly, eyewitness videos and preliminary aviation data indicate that the aircraft struggled to gain altitude, with landing gear reportedly not retracted during initial climb. This could have significantly increased drag, impacting performance.

There can be several possible causes: dual engine flameout, fuel contamination, or a bird strike. A mayday was declared moments before the aircraft lost altitude and crashed. What is Mayday? Its French phrase ‘maidez’ meaning help me, see what pilot said in this distress call to A T C

“Mayday… Mayday… Mayday, this is Air India 171 engine failure after take off from Ahmedabad. We are losing altitude rapidly. Position 5 miles North East of airport altitude 625 ft. Request emergency landing. No thrust, losing power, unable to lift”.

Let us discern the past performance of this highly advanced modern aircraft;

The Dreamliner, registered as VT-ANB, had been in service since 2014 and was powered by General Electric GEnx engines. It had completed over 8,000 flight cycles and had no publicly reported recent technical faults. This marks the first-ever fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 aircraft since its introduction. Historically, the 787-8 Dreamliner has had a strong safety record. Earlier non-fatal incidents include battery overheating issues in 2013, which led to a global grounding, and some reported structural quality control concerns between 2019 and 2024. However, none had led to loss of life until now.

A multi-agency investigation will be required to investigate involving India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) under DGCA, further investigation needs to be done by U.S. NTSB, and Boeing to know cause of engine failure if it is not the case of bird hit.

What can we say about our Directorate General of Civil Aviation which is unfortunately being headed by non-technical bureaucrats since last over one decade having no experience or qualification of Science, forget aviation experience, it was D G C A with M B B S or History or Economics or Agriculture or English degree and now Humanities with present D G C A.

This happens because a bureaucrat at a level of Addl. Secretary never wants to go back to his parent state for cooling period and feel comfortable to live in Delhi as a D G C A till he becomes Secretary Govt. of India, so it’s a parking ground at the cost of aviation safety because D G C A is supposed to be highly qualified technical person with long experience in aviation to take decision on aircraft accidents, airport and pilot licensing making policies to regulate activities of airlines, airport operators and all other agencies.

It is an alarming situation now because the present bureaucrat D G C A is a man with Humanities qualification, who decided to make Commerce graduate as pilot, ignoring as to how a person with no Science and Math knowledge can acquire pilot skills. We cross fingers, it is only in India that D G C A is sole authority for making pilots and to conduct all exams tests ratings etc.

Its relevant to mention that requirement of Math and Physics 10+2 for pilots was enforced by the government on the basis of recommendation of investigation report of Indian Airlines A320 aircraft accident at Bangalore in 1991.

This crash not only raises urgent questions about operational protocols but also places renewed scrutiny on Boeing’s Dreamliner program. The final investigation report, expected within a year, is likely to result in recommendations aimed at preventing such tragedies in the future. In most of the cases, the findings of investigation conclude as human error, once no body survived. Such grave failures need to be addressed accurately to rebuild public trust in air travel. 

- Dr. Dewakar Goel is Chairman of the Aero Academy of Aviation Science and Management, Ex. Executive Director (HR) of the Airports Authority of India, former Director of the Indian Aviation Academy, Government of India, HR Consultant with ICAO in Montreal, Canada, Human Performance Technologist with IATA in Geneva, Switzerland, ICAO and IATA Certified Training Instructor, ACI Standing Committee Member for Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, and Advocate at the Supreme Court of India.