Our Bureau
New Delhi
The Airplane crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday was one of the most tragic incidents that the country has ever seen. It was Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner which was bound for London’s Gatwick Airport but crashed just moments after taking flight from Ahmedabad. Now the reports have stated that the Union government is looking to ground the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.
Boeing, based in Seattle, is one of the major players in the aerospace industry and this incident will leave a huge dent on their reputation. But this is nothing new for the company as it has been barred by several controversies over the years. There have been several issues concerning the safety, production quality of the flights. There were few issues regarding corporate governance and regulatory scrutiny. One of the major cases that dented their reputation were the two 737 MAX aircrafts crashes which led to the aircraft fleet getting grounded globally for over 20 months.
The incident of the Dreamliner 787 was not a new incident for Boeing as Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2019 also suffered a similar fate as they crashed within minutes of takeoff, taking away lives of 346 people. It was reported that this was because of their faulty Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) which pushed the nose of the aircraft downward.
Boeing was in headlines just for all the wrong reasons in January when a door plug panel on a 737 MAX 9 aircraft of Alaska Airlines blew out due to a missing bolt. Although a major accident was avoided, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Max 9 and issued an audit in Boeing’s product line. It all resulted in major penalties and the company facing delays in certification.
As per the reports on Friday, the Indian Government will be taking a call on the aircraft after they conduct a safety review of the American Wide-body Airliner. It was reported that both India and the United States are having talks regarding the safety tests, and they will mutually decide the future of the aircraft.
