A tragic air accident unfolded in Ahmedabad on June 12, when Air India’s London-bound Flight AI-171, operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The aircraft had just lifted off from Runway 23 at 1:39 pm IST (08:09 UTC) when it plummeted to the ground, bursting into flames outside the airport perimeter.

On board were 242 people, including 2 pilots and 10 cabin crew. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) confirmed that the flight was commanded by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, with co-pilot Clive Kundar, who had logged 1,100 flying hours. A distress call — a 'mayday' — was reportedly made, but Air Traffic Control received no further communication.

Rescue teams and investigators are currently on site. Information about casualties or survivors is still awaited.

While this was the first 787 DreamLiner crash in the world, a whistleblower account from 2024 had a chilling foreshadowing of today's incident.

Whistleblower’s Chilling Warning: “Hundreds Could Die”

Over a year before the Ahmedabad crash, damning allegations had emerged in the US about potential structural failures in Boeing’s 787 fleet. In April 2024, Sam Salehpour, a Boeing quality engineer, testified before a US Senate subcommittee that production shortcuts and quality lapses in the Dreamliner could lead to the aircraft “breaking apart” after repeated trips.

In his testimony, Salehpour warned: “If not addressed, [these issues] could...

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