THE black box of the ill-fated Air India flight AI171 has been recovered, and that should reveal in the coming days what actually caused the horrific crash a minute after take-off on June 12. All but one of the 242 onboard the Ahmedabad-London flight were killed when the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner ploughed into a medical college hostel abutting the airport. At least 28 hostel inmates, including doctors and students, perished after the plane rammed through the building and turned into a fireball. The black box was found on the hostel roof. The flight had ascended to 200m, according to Indian officials, before it started to lose height. The crash site is about 2km from the Ahmedabad airport’s perimeter.

Media speculation is seldom helpful in these matters, and while fingers are being pointed at Boeing, it is more due to the reputation the company has acquired for avoidable reasons than with credible insights into Thursday’s crash. Given the fact that aviation is a global money-spinner rife with rivalries among powerful manufacturers, the balance between profit and safety is often precariously poised. On June 4, for example, Boeing reached an agreement with the US Justice Department to pay $1.1bn to avoid prosecution for the two widely reported 737-MAX crashes. With this deal, Boeing dodged a trial that was set to begin on June 23. “As part of the agreement, Boeing also admitted to conspiracy to obstruct the Federal Aviation Administration’s operations of its Aircraft Evaluation group,” the Wall Street Journal reported. Quick judgements can be arbitrary. When an Indian Airlines Airbus A-320 jet crashed during landing at the Bangalore airport in 1990, the aviation minister grounded the entire fleet of that model. Within days, without explanation, the same fleet was deployed to rescue Indians stranded in Kuwait by the Gulf War. It is best to wait for the probe underway into a heartbreaking tragedy.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2025