The chances were in your favor if you were one of 242 people who sat in Air India Flight 171 in Ahmedabad, India, went to London on June 12. The plane on which you flew was Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which has been working since 2011 without a fatal accident. More than 1100 Dreamliners are used around the world, wearing more than 875 million passengers Over the past decade, according to Boeing. Your specific 787, delivered to Air India in 2014, accumulated 41,000 hours of summer and a little less than 8,000 rabs and landingsin accordance with CyriumAnalytical company of the aviation industry.
But none of this would help you. Immediately after takeoff, when the plane was only 625 feet in the air, he lost his height and plunged into the residential area, killing all except one of the passengers and the crew on board. The cause of the accident is still unknown.
“Our deepest condolences come up with close passengers and crew on board Air India Flight 171, as well as everyone who suffered in Ahmedabad,” said Kelly Ortberg, president and executive director of Boeing, In the statementThe field “I talked with the chairman of Air India N. Chandrasekaran to offer our full support, and the Boeing team is ready to support the investigation conducted by the Aircraft Building Bureau.”
This investigation will probably go deeper than just the flight 171, starting from the 14 years, who fly the 787th years – after it turns out that it was clear that numerous complaints, anxiety and the exposure report on the safety of a broad -fiber aircraft. All of them today get a second glance.
Problems began in early 2013, when Fires broke on board two Dreamliners Belongs to Japanese airlines. One plane just landed at Boston Logan airport, the other just left Japan and had to turn and land. Both sparkles were traced before overheating of lithium-ion batteries of aircraft that feed the electric system. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) quickly recovered, grounding the World Fleet Dreamliners and temporarily stopping the delivery of new airlines that placed orders for them. In April 2013 FAA Accepted Bain correctionsWhat included the best insulation for batteries and a stainless steel box, in which batteries will be placed and prevented smoke or flame on the aircraft if a fire begins. Dreamliners were cleaned for flying, and the company was cleaned to resume supplies within a few weeks after the FAA decision.
The next incident occurred in 2019, when, Like New York Once reported At that time, John Barnett, a former quality manager, retired in 2017, said that he filed a complaint against the exposure, affirming the inaccurate work around the wires, which connect the control systems for aircraft, and metal chips are left behind when the bolts were fixed. There was a risk that chips penetrate the isolation of wires, which would lead to the consequences that Barnett called “catastrophic”.
Barnett also claimed that damaged or poor -quality details were installed in the 787s, including in a rumpled hydraulic tube, which the senior manager was extracted from the garbage bucket of what was supposed to contain scrap. FAA examined several 787, which, as they said, was free of Brig Barnett, and found that they were really there, said OnceThe FAA then ordered the field to ensure that Boeing corrects the problems before the aircraft were delivered to customers.
In retirement, Barnett sued the Boeing, Affirming that the company He designated his character and blocked his career growth during his work – he accuses the Boeing denies. In March 2024, he was in North Charleston, South Carolina, on the site of the factory where he worked, working on his own business when he was Found dead in his truck From the dedicated gunshot wound.
“Boeing may not have pressed the trigger,” said the Barnett family in Reference claim for death This served: “But the behavior of the Bain was a clear reason.”
The company circumvented the charge: “We are saddened by the death of John Barnett and send our condolences to his family.” Boeing said In the statement.
Last year, it turned out to be bad for Boeing and Dreamliner for reasons, in addition to the death of Barnett. In January Another exposureEngineer Sam Salehpur stepped forward, saying that the Dreamliner fuselage sections were incorrectly connected with spaces that could lead to the gap of the aircraft during the flight. When the sections are not suitable, Salehpur claimed, workers resort to rough power.
“I literally saw people jumping to pieces of the plane to force them to align”, Salehpour Said in the Capitol Hill.The field “jumping up and down, you will deform the parts so that the holes are temporarily aligned. I called this Tarzan's effect. ”
In a statement on your webBoeing defended the integrity of Dreamliner: “For the fleet, without interruption from work on the basis of a complex analysis, no safety problems related to the management of the component intervals were identified, and our engineers complete an exhaustive analysis to determine any long -term verification and maintenance necessary for supervision from the FAA.”
However, in May FAA acted againBy announcing that Boeing was ordered to re -affect “all 787 aircraft, still within the framework of the production system, and should also create a plan for solving the fleet without interruption from work.” This was not the first time that the government took measures to the problem of unacceptable gaps in the Dreamliner fuselage. From May 2021 to August 2022 FAA stopped delivery New Dreamliners for customers of the airline, while the problem has been solved. Deliveries were really resumed, but, as Salehpur testified, so the crappy worked at the factory.
Meanwhile, in March 2024, Airlines Latam Airlines from Sydney to Auckland Suddenly plunged 400 feetThe field when the pilot's place in 787 suddenly moved forward. The captain discovered, but 10 passengers and three member of the flight attendant were injured.
At the moment, 1100 Dreamliners Criss Crossing, the sky is still flying. This may change in anticipation of the results of the Air India investigation. Even the temporary loss of the aircraft, which is a workhorse for long -term flights, can be difficult for both airlines and the flying public. But, as the mourning families of passengers on board the Air India flight could confirm, the loss of life is much worse.
