The crash of the Boeing 787-8 operating AI171 on takeoff from Ahmedabad bound for London Gatwick has rocked the aviation industry, and our hearts go out to everyone involved in or affected by this shocking incident.
AI171 marked the first fatal crash and hull loss of a 787. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and commercial airplanes head Stephanie Pope will not attend the Paris Air Show to meet with customers or face the world's media, while GE Aerospace (manufacturer of the engines on the 11-year-old airliner) cancelled its investor day.
Videos of the crash swiftly circulated, but data is scant so far. Despite little public ADS-B coverage of the Ahmedabad area, FlightRadar24 has a useful live article with data from 12 June as events unfolded, plus some additional altitude and speed data points, which the tracking site plans to update. There are, of course, few conclusions to be drawn in the early hours and days after investigators reach the site.
In the absence of conclusions, tabloids are seizing on social video from a passenger who flew on the aircraft on its flight prior to AI171, which shows malfunctioning entertainment systems and reports malfunctioning air conditioning and other cabin maintenance issues.
While it is certainly true that, at an industry level of understanding, read-across from cabin maintenance aircraft airworthiness is not direct, the reality is that passengers and the general media do not have that level of detail. It should be no surprise if a public whose understanding comes, at most, from the 25 seasons of Mayday/Air Crash Investigation, draw inferences from cabin maintenance they can see to airframe maintenance they cannot.
This week on The Up Front:
- read our in-depth feature analysing Airbus’ direction of travel as it heads to the Paris Air Show
- listen to an extra-length version of our 40,000 Feet podcast, diving deeper into the biggest stories before the show
- enjoy a special bilingual episode of Contact Decimal, our ambient sounds x air traffic control mix, perfect for that airport queue, gazing out the window or waiting for the shuttle to Le Bourget — subscribers and Pros have access to the full archive
- we’ve delayed our history deep-dive into Boeing bringing the 747-100 to the 1969 Paris Air Show — much of the story revolves around engine reliability, and that doesn’t feel right to us in the context of AI171
