On June 12, Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, took off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:39 pm, heading to London Gatwick.
Within 32 seconds, it crashed into a medical hostel near the airport, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 individuals on the ground.
A British-Indian man seated in row 11A was the sole survivor.
This marked the first fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 since its commercial launch in 2011.
A preliminary investigation report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), released last night, outlines several contributing factors while also leaving key questions unanswered about what went wrong during those final moments.
As coverage of the tragedy continues, senior journalist Barkha Dutt flagged how parts of the crash report were being interpreted.
"Scandalous that Air India Crash report being used by western media to blame pilots for cutting fuel. The report does not say that at all. But yes, the report flags an FAA advisory on a problem with Boeing fuel switches locking - in that case why has the report not recommended further investigations against 787 planes?" she posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Replying to the post, Grammy-winning musician Ricky Kej wrote that the issue hits close to home for him.
"Absolutely agree. This is from the Boeing playbook. Blame the pilots and settle lawsuits quietly. Control the narrative. They did the same with the two 737 Max crashes in 2019," Kej wrote.
He then revealed a harrowing personal account linked to one of the 2019 crashes, "I had booked a ticket on the Ethiopian Airlines flight to Kenya that unfortunately crashed. In the last minute, a colleague insisted I travel on an earlier flight, so my life was saved. Many attendees were killed on the flight. So this is personal for me, because Boeing and only Boeing was responsible for those deaths."
Dutt responded: "Yes and that was the precise crash that was the seminal moment. This is the repeat of the 737 max."
Kej elaborated further on the systemic issues that contributed to the 2019 disaster.
"Exactly.. the Ethiopian crash happened after the LION air crash. 2 crashes within 5 months. Boeing did the same, blamed the pilots.. also implied that non-western pilots are not as good. Then it turned out that the planes had a hidden MCAS system which malfunctioned. The system was kept hidden from the pilots and even the flight manual. So the pilots had to deal with a disastrous malfunction of a faulty system they did not even know existed on the plane!! Till this day, NO ONE from Boeing has been disciplined or fired for this. No heads rolled. Zero accountability, except for some pay outs. They do not care about lives.. and never will. Only profits."
About Ethiopian Airlines Crash
The Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash occurred on March 10, 2019, just minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board.
It was the second fatal crash involving the Boeing 737 Max in less than five months, following the Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October 2018.
Both incidents were linked to a software known as MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), which was designed to prevent the plane from stalling but instead forced the aircraft into uncontrollable dives.
Investigations later revealed that Boeing had failed to disclose the MCAS system properly to pilots and regulators, and that the flight manuals lacked critical information.
The scandal led to a worldwide grounding of the 737 Max fleet and intense scrutiny of Boeing's safety practices and regulatory oversight.
Despite the global outrage, no senior executives from Boeing faced criminal consequences.
