‘After Air India Crash, I Get Butterflies in My Stomach Before Boarding a Flight’
Abhijeet Nigam, a software professional and a passionate traveller, says the Air India crash raised many questions on air safety but aviation sector couldn’t care less. His views:
I was in Noida on that fateful day when the news broke – the crash killing 241 of the 242 people on board the Boing AI 171 flight. I was supposed to take a flight to Lucknow the same evening from New Delhi when my uncle called me asking me to cancel my flight and take a train instead. However, despite the fear in mind, I took the flight due to prior engagements in Lucknow but the mind was full of bad thoughts, presumptions and assumptions en route until I finally landed and got out of the plane.
Though it was a much smaller aircraft, all along the journey, there was a studied silence in the plane and all the co-passengers opted to remain silent and avoided any kind of discussions and conversations.
Though the preliminary reports of the possible cause of the crash indicate a technical slag, what I can make out is that the way the last conversation between the two pilots was highlighted in the media, points towards a possible botch up. Why and how was only the final conversation – why did you cut off the fuel supply? I did not…. – made the catch of the media? Was it something intentional to hush up the investigations and blame everything on the deceased pilots?
A simple question – both the pilots were well experienced and how could such a silly and disastrous move be expected from them? Some media houses also started howling about a possible terror angle as if the pilots were a part of the alleged conspiracy. Why is there not any kind of control on these big mouth media channels and why are they allowed to do such cheap theatrics without any solid proof or finding?
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On the other hand, it appears, such silly acts (of the media) are deliberately being fed and allowed to provide a cover up for the company that is manufacturing the planes or the company that is providing technical and other kinds of support to the service provider.
Whatever the reason, it is now the moral duty of the government to put forward the truth behind the tragedy – it is not about giving compensation to the family members of the deceased – the bigger thing matters – fixing the responsibility and bringing all those responsible to the books. Just stop playing blame games and pitching narratives to the media. It should be fixed once and for all and new standards should be fixed for all the service providers operating in India.
Since the crash, there’s been a steady stream of updates about flights being diverted, sometimes due to technical snags, sometimes bomb threats, and somehow, Air India seems to be at the centre of every bad news. Good is good but much more is floating on social media and it should be stopped and regulated. All we could do is to keep flying and keep praying – as there is no better way to cover distance faster than this mode and we expect the government to be more vigilant towards the quality of service and the safety of life of the passengers.
As told to Rajat Rai
