From Kozhikode to Ahmedabad crash: Safety lessons caught in air pocket

The AI171 crash brings into focus the aviation reforms that two major accidents in the past promised to roll out

One of the key recommendations following the Kozhikode air crash in August 2020 — in which an Air India Express aircraft from Dubai overshot the runway during landing in heavy rain, killing 21 people — was for India to develop its own laboratory to analyse flight data and cockpit voice recorders, commonly known as black boxes. That facility, set up under the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), was inaugurated this April, close to five years after the Kozhikode crash. And, its effectiveness is already under scrutiny.

 

After the recent crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad on June 12