DNA Edit: Flight Risk - On-board systems collapse shows it’s unsafe to fly Air India

It’s no secret that Air India has continued to lurch from crisis to crisis for some time now, but what happened recently is unprecedented. The fact that a pilot was forced to land a plane, with 370 passengers onboard, with non-functioning auto landing, auto-brakes and Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) not only speaks volumes about the dangerous state of affairs but also suggests that putting a temporary halt to all flights of the national airline should now be considered in the interest of passenger safety.

This is a nightmare scenario and what’s worse is that pilots have been warning the management about this state of affairs for a while now. In August, Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) had questioned the safety of the flights that they were flying and also stated nearly one-fourth of the airline’s fleet had been grounded due to lack of spares.

What’s worse is they stated that the lack of checks and continuous swapping of inventory between airlines has meant that a pilot cannot be sure of the quality of equipment that is functioning on his plane. In this case, the quality was non-existent and the fact that it happened on a Boeing makes it all the more worrying.

If the national airline shows such lack of care on one of its major aircraft, one can only imagine the care and maintenance that would be going towards maintaining so-called “lesser” planes. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the management of Air India has once again trotted out its “all is well” attitude and stated that safety has always been its prime concern. It would simply be better now if they apologised and admitted their problems.

The national airline has not been “well”, for a long time now, and the recent incident shows that its problems could very easily come at the cost of passengers’ lives. The elephant in the room can no longer be hidden. It is time to own up responsibility and take prompt remedial instead of inviting upon itself – and its unwary passengers -- the disaster waiting to happen.