Before the shock of the Ahmedabad plane crash could subside, another Air India flight came dangerously close to disaster. The Delhi-Vienna flight narrowly averted a major accident shortly after takeoff. After climbing initially, the aircraft suddenly dropped to a dangerously low altitude of 900 feet. However, the pilots managed to regain control, and the plane continued its journey safely.
Air India confirmed that the pilots have been removed from duty pending an investigation. Reports indicate that weather conditions in Delhi were poor at the time the Boeing 777 took off in the early hours of June 14. Just 38 hours after the Ahmedabad tragedy, this near-miss added concerns over Boeing aircrafts.
The flight in question, AI-187, operating a Boeing 777 from Delhi to Vienna, reportedly received a stall warning shortly after departure. It then plunged to an altitude of 900 feet. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aircraft’s systems also issued ground proximity warnings, an automated alert that sounds when a plane gets too close to the ground.
Sources say the aircraft received one stall warning and two ground proximity alerts. The crew reacted promptly, stabilised the plane, and completed the approximately nine-hour-and-eight-minute journey to Vienna safely.
However, discrepancies have emerged between the pilots’ report and the data retrieved from the aircraft’s flight data recorder. While the pilots described the event as mere turbulence due to bad weather and only acknowledged a stick shaker (stall warning), they failed to mention the ground proximity alerts. It was only after detailed analysis of the black box data that the full gravity of the situation came to light, revealing that both the flight crew and the safety department had withheld key information.
As a result, both pilots have been removed from duty, and the DGCA has summoned the head of Air India’s safety department for further inquiry. In the wake of the Ahmedabad crash, which claimed more than 270 lives, India’s aviation regulator has moved swiftly to tighten safety oversight and ensure strict adherence to operational protocols across all Air India flights.
