New Delhi: The tragic Ahmedabad-London plane crash which killed 241 people has sent shockwaves across the globe, with various foreign media publications coming out with detailed reports.
The Air India plane AI171 crashed into a medical college’s hostel mess moments after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport Thursday afternoon, also causing fatalities on the ground.
The Indian aviation sector has been “booming”, owing to a rise in the number of airports, and travellers and routes expanding at “blistering pace”, writes India Correspondent Leo Virani in The Economists’ Essential India newsletter.
“The industry gives off a palpable sense of excitement and opportunity—every week brings news of new destinations being launched by Indian carriers including Air India and its rival Indigo, the market leader, and new connections to India by foreign airlines. The Indian government harbours aspirations of making India a global aviation hub on par with Dubai and Singapore. The crash will cast a cloud over that ambition, at least for a while,” says the article.
It takes time to iron out the details for plane investigators, however, a number of experts wondered how the plane came down with its nose pointed up, reports Amelia Nierenberg in the The New York Times.
“A widely shared video showed the plane descending over buildings with its nose pointed upward, an unusual position,” the report quotes John Cox, a former airline pilot and chief executive of consulting firm Safety Operating Systems, as saying.
The plane’s orientation looks as if “it should be climbing and, in fact, it’s descending,” he said. “The question is why,” says the report.
The tragic event could also be a blow to Boeing’s revitalisation efforts, following the arrival of new CEO Kelly Ortberg. Boeing shares closed 4.8 per cent down, reports Sylvia Pfeifer in the Financial Times.
“Boeing’s recovery was progressing, Ortberg told the Financial Times in an interview earlier this month, although he stopped short of saying the company had already turned a corner,” states the report.
It adds, “Flight 171’s crash, which killed almost all of the 242 passengers and crew on board as well as causing fatalities on the ground, has focused attention on Boeing’s most advanced model, the wide-body 787, used for long-haul flights.”
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal places the crash among the latest in a series of high profile crashes and posits a question –– how safe is it to fly?
“Thursday’s crash involved Boeing’s 787 model, which hasn’t previously been involved in any fatal accidents. The Dreamliner model has been a bestseller for the manufacturer, despite earlier and more recent production setbacks. Those involved supply-chain issues, battery fires and other quality-control problems,” the report mentions, adding the crash brings renewed scrutiny to the Boeing model.
The Guardian’s Hannah Ellis Petersona and Jason Burke speak to eyewitnesses, who recall seeing black smoke and burnt bodies in the wake of the crash.
“A doctor named Krishna said, ‘The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch’,” they report.
Krishna said he saw “about 15 to 20 burnt bodies” while he and his colleagues rescued about 15 students, says the report. “At least 30 bodies were recovered from a building at the site of the crash.”
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)