New Delhi: An Air India plane crashed minutes after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Ahmedabad airport on Thursday. According to the Gujarat State Police Control Room, the Air India Flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, was bound for London. It carried 242 passengers, including 12 crew members. The Ahmedabad crash adds yet another episode to a growing list of troubling incidents involving the Boeing aircraft, which have sparked questions about quality control, design integrity, and regulatory oversight.
This is the sixth aircraft incident in 2025 involving a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. And over 100th since its first safety incident in 2010.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has faced numerous quality control and manufacturing issues since its launch, leading to delays, rework, and even temporary grounding. These issues include problems with fuselage joints, improper fastener installation, and structural integrity concerns.
Past incidents
Earlier this year, a Washington-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner made an emergency landing in Lagos after declaring a mid-air emergency. The United Airlines flight, UA613, was carrying 245 passengers, eight flight attendants, and three pilots when it experienced a snag over Ivory Coast airspace.
The plane lost altitude and dropped suddenly, causing panic among passengers. Six passengers were reportedly injured.
In September 2024, an Air India Boeing 787-800 passenger plane en route from Delhi to Birmingham made a precautionary landing in Moscow due to technical issues. The plane landed safely without any injuries to all 258 passengers and 17 crew members.
In July last year, an Air India plane operating from Delhi to San Francisco made a precautionary landing in Siberia after the cockpit crew detected a potential issue in the cargo hold area.
Last year, in May, Boeing warned airlines flying its 787 Dreamliner model to inspect certain switches in the cockpit, after a New Zealand-bound LATAM plane dropped violently mid-flight, injuring over 50 travellers.
Boeing faced intense global scrutiny after the fatal crashes of 737 MAX planes in 2018 and 2019 that killed more than 350 people, and the near-catastrophic incident in January 2024 when a fuselage panel on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines jet blew off mid-flight.
Rory Kennedy’s Netflix documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (2022) also took a close look at the two incidents, highlighting what went wrong with the aircraft.
Investigations had revealed flaws in the MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), inadequate pilot training, and lapses in regulatory oversight.
Whistleblower’s warnings
Last year, investigations took place against Boeing after a whistleblower repeatedly raised concerns with two widebody jet models. The Dreamliner is a wide-body aircraft.
Whistleblower Sam Salehpour, who was a Boeing engineer, had alleged that Boeing took shortcuts when manufacturing its 777 and 787 Dreamliner jets, and that the risks could become catastrophic as the airplanes age.
According to Salehpour’s complaint, the assembly crew didn’t adequately fill small gaps when connecting separately manufactured fuselage sections — a flaw that adds stress to the aircraft, reduces its durability, and raises the risk of a “catastrophic” failure.
Between 2021 and 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing paused deliveries of the new Dreamliners to investigate the issue. Boeing later stated it had updated its manufacturing process, and deliveries eventually resumed. The company has maintained that the aircraft are safe to fly.