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New Delhi: A routine flight to Los Angeles turned into an emergency diversion after a communication breakdown in the cabin sparked fears of a hijacking. The aircraft -- operating call-sign 6469 for SkyWest Airlines -- departed from Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska on the evening of Monday, October 20, bound for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Shortly after take-off, the cockpit crew realised they had lost contact with the cabin crew via the aircraft's inter-phone system. At the same time, cabin crew were heard banging on the cockpit door in an attempt to be heard. Troubled by the lack of communication and the banging, the pilots interpreted the situation as a potential breach of the cockpit and declared an emergency. The flight performed a sharp U-turn, after flying only about 40 miles (roughly 65 km) of its planned 1,300-mile (≈2,092 km) journey. The aircraft, an Embraer ERJ 175 according to flight-tracking data, landed safely back at Eppley Airfield around 7:45 pm local time. After landing, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a statement indicating that the inter-phone system had malfunctioned, and that subsequent banging on the cockpit door by crew was a result of the communication failure. One passenger seated in the third row, identified as Brian Windhorst, a basketball writer for ESPN, described the turn-back: "We make a very hard U-turn... That wasn't normal. There was no announcement." The captain, upon addressing passengers after the diversion, apologised for the return and said the crew "weren't sure if something was going on with the airplane, so that's why we're coming back here... we have to figure out what's going on." No injuries or security incidents have been reported. The aircraft and crew were taken out of service temporarily for inspection and maintenance of the inter-phone system.
NEW DELHI, July 14 (Reuters) - The probe into last month's Air India Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad city is "far from over," CEO Campbell Wilson said in an internal memo on Monday, adding that the airline is open to further inquiries and warned against "premature conclusions." The memo, seen by Reuters, comes after a preliminary report on Saturday showed confusion in the cockpit shortly before the Air India jetliner crashed and killed 260 people last month, after the plane's engine fuel cutoff sw ...Read More >
Delhi, July 15: A SpiceJet flight SG 9282 from Delhi to Mumbai was significantly delayed on Monday, July 15, after two passengers, one of them identified as Yachana Nair, allegedly attempted to forcefully approach the cockpit while the aircraft was taxiing. The incident occurred as the passengers complained of an air conditioning issue, which further led to their offloading and subsequent handover to security personnel. The flight, SG 9282, was preparing for departure from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport when the disruption occurred. According to the airline, the two passengers ig ...Read More >
The Boeing 747 Jumbo stands out for being the most popular quad-engined commercial passenger jet to exist. It also boasted the longest production run of any commercial jet in its class. But why was it designed with four engines and not two, three, or even six? When answering this question, it is necessary to look back in time to the 1960s when the original 747-100 was developed. Put simply, the 747 has four engines to meet the Boeing 747-100 performance requirements. In the 1960s, engine technol ...Read More >
Mumbai: The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary findings into the tragic crash of Air India flight AI171 that occurred on June 12 in Ahmedabad. The accident claimed 270 lives, including 241 onboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Only one passenger survived, making it one of India's deadliest aviation disasters in recent memory. Below are the key takeaways from the 15-page AAIB report: - Engine Shutdown After Takeoff: Both engines of the aircraft shut down within seconds of takeoff. Investigators found that the fuel cutoff switches were moved from 'RUN' to 'C ...Read More >
Bhopal: Nabha, the eight-year-old Namibian cheetah in the Kuno national park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday succumbed to injuries that she had sustained while hunting. She had been under treatment for a week for her injuries, KNP field director Uttam Kumar Sharma told this newspaper. "Nabha got badly injured a week back probably during a hunting attempt inside her soft release boma (large enclosure). She had fractures in both ulna (bone in the foreleg) and fibula (smaller of the two outer bones between knee and ankle) on the left side along with other injuries. Further details will be kn ...Read More >
The DGCA is expected to advise airlines using Boeing 787s to inspect the locking mechanism of fuel control switches, in the wake of the Air India crash preliminary report. Amid the ongoing probe with the Air India plane crash, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is likely to instruct airlines to check the locking mechanism of fuel switches, according to CNBC-TV18. The report quoted sources as saying that the DGCA directive would be issued to airlines using Boeing 787 aircraft, and ...Read More >
Mumbai: Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday asked airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes, a move that comes days after the preliminary probe report into the Air India's Boeing 787 crash found that the switches were cut off before the accident last month. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), back in 2018, had flagged the potential disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature on certain models of Boeing aircraft, including 787s and 737s. It was mentioned in a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) but there was no airwort ...Read More >
NEW DEHLI, India (AFP) -- India and Singapore ordered their airlines to examine fuel switches on several Boeing models, with South Korea set to do the same after the devices came under scrutiny following last month's crash of an Air India jet killed 260 people. Singapore said it detected no problems with switches on its airlines' Boeing aeroplane in the wake of a preliminary Indian-issued report found the devices flipped from run position to cutoff shortly after takeoff. The report did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the June 12 disaster, but indicated that one pilot asked t ...Read More >
MUMBAI: Investigation into the Air India flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad has revealed an unsettling detail. Three seconds after take-off, fuel supply to both engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was cut off, either by a faulty fuel supply switch or manually by one of the two pilots. The report is ambiguous on what starved the engines. But it referred to a 2018 safety bulletin that instructed airlines to look out for a possible mechanical fault with the fuel control switches, which could cut off fuel supply to the engines."In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the ot ...Read More >
MUMBAI: The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) President CS Randhawa on Thursday condemned a media report that claimed that the captain of the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last month deliberately cut off fuel to the engines. Captain Randhawa dismissed the claims as baseless and vowed to take action against the publication. Captain CS Randhawa emphasised that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's (AAIB) preliminary report makes no mention of the pilots turning off the switche ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) Seconds before Air India flight 171 crashed while ascending from Ahmedabad, the fuel control switches of both its engines were cut off, a preliminary investigation report said on Saturday, suggesting a catastrophic pilot error in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The Airlines Pilots Association of India raised the issue with the report, saying the investigation is "shrouded in secrecy," appears to be biased against the pilot and has come to a conclusion hastily. A 15-page preliminary investigation report into the disaster revealed fuel-control switches of the ...Read More >
The captain of an Air India plane that crashed last month killing 260 people had promised he would return home hours before jetting off on the doomed flight. Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, was the senior pilot onboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that plummeted into a residential area in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 people on board and 19 people on the ground. The veteran aviator, who had more than 8,200 hours in the cockpit, is being looked into by investigators over suggestions he turned off t ...Read More >
(This was originally published in the India File newsletter, which is issued every Tuesday. Sign up here to get the latest news from India and how it matters to the world.) Indian investigators' preliminary report on the crash of an Air India flight that killed 260 people has put the focus squarely on the pilots and the aircraft's fuel switches. We wrap up the latest developments and new questions raised about commercial aviation's worst accident in more than a decade. And India remains conspic ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) A preliminary report has found that the fuel supply to both engines of Air India flight AI171 was cut off within a second of each other, causing confusion in the cockpit and the airplane plummeting back to ground almost immediately after taking off. The 15-page report says that in the cockpit voice recording, one unidentified pilot asked the other why he had cut off the fuel, which the other denied. On June 12, the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner began to lose thrust almost immediately after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport and ploughed into a medical college ...Read More >
New Delhi [India], July 14 (ANI): India's civil aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday issued an urgent directive mandating Indian operators of specific Boeing aircraft models to conduct inspections of the engine fuel control switch locking mechanisms by July 21. Also Read | Maharashtra Govt To Invoke MCOCA Against Drug Dealers and Peddlers, Says CM Devendra Fadnavis. The move comes days after report of preliminary investigation into the crash of Air India flight AI 171 in Ahmedabad in which killed 260 people. The directive enforces compliance with the Fe ...Read More >
Chennai: Madras high court has clarified that private self-financing medical colleges are required to pay only a stipend, and not a full salary, to in-service govt doctors pursuing postgraduate or super-specialty courses under the govt quota.A division bench of Justice R Subramanian and Justice K Surender passed the order while partly allowing a batch of appeals moved by Karpaga Vinayaga Medical College and others. They challenged a single judge's order that directed private colleges to pay salaries to in-service doctors studying in their institutions.The appeals were moved based on a GO dated ...Read More >
NEW DELHI, 12 Jul: Seconds before Air India flight 171 crashed while ascending from Ahmedabad, the fuel control switches of both its engines were cut off, a preliminary investigation report said on Saturday, suggesting a catastrophic pilot error in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The Airlines Pilots Association of India raised the issue with the report, saying the investigation is "shrouded in secrecy," appears to be biased against the pilot and has come to a conclusion hastily. A 15-page preliminary investigation report into the disaster revealed fuel-control switches of the two e ...Read More >
NEW DELHI: Four people died in Himachal Pradesh as rain continues to wreak havoc in the state, while five were swept away in Rajasthan's Kota at a barrage after a heavy downpour caused the authorities to release water from a reservoir. In Himachal, more than 200 roads are out of bounds for vehicular traffic, a majority of them in Mandi, while a flash flood warning has been issued for 12 districts in Jharkhand. An individual each drowned in Kullu and Kangra districts, one died after being bitten by a snake in Bilaspur, while one was killed after falling from a height, the State Emergency Oper ...Read More >
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has called for restraint from the public and international media as it investigates the recent Air India crash which authorities have described as one of the most devastating aviation incidents in recent years. Last month, an Air India Boeing 787 crashed at Ahmedabad killing 270 people. Initial findings by AAIB said that the fuel switches were cut off seconds after taking off. The report also mentioned that there was confusion among the two p ...Read More >
AHMEDABAD, India - Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, vanished from the skies above Ahmedabad and crashed into a residential neighbourhood just seconds after takeoff on June 12, 2025. With 260 lives lost, including 241 people on board and 19 on the ground, questions continue to surround what went wrong in those brief, chaotic moments. The latest findings from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) reveal that both engines lost power after the fuel control switches were moved to the "cutoff" position seconds after takeoff, cutting off fuel and causing a rapid loss ...Read More >
New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed all Indian carriers operating Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft to inspect the fuel switch locking system by 21 July 2025. This move follows a preliminary investigation into the recent Air India Boeing 787 crash, which revealed that fuel supply to both engines was cut off moments before the accident. According to PTI, DGCA noted that several global and domestic operators have started inspecting their fleets in line with the FAA's guidance. The directorate has now formally advised Indian carriers, including Air India, Air India ...Read More >
Srinagar, July 15: A video that has gone viral shows fellow passengers asking the troublemakers to sit down. "You cannot stop a plane like this; this is illegal," one of the passengers says. "AC chala de, hum baith jayenge" (switch the AC on, we will sit down)," comes the reply from the rear part of the cabin. Some passengers are then heard telling the cabin crew to call CISF security personnel and deboard the troublemakers. "Those who don't want to go, make sure they get down," says a flier. A SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Mumbai experienced significant disruption on July 14 after two unruly ...Read More >
New Delhi, July 14: The USA's Federal Aviation Administration has informed civil aviation authorities of other countries that fuel control switch designs, including the locking feature, installed in Boeing planes, including the Dreamliner involved in the Air India crash at Ahmedabad, are safe. The US aviation safety regulator has stated that no airworthiness directive is deemed necessary for Boeing operators at this time, according to an NDTV Profit report. Such directives are issued to mandate specific actions to be performed on aircraft or aircraft components to correct unsafe conditions th ...Read More >
New Delhi, July 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) Calling recent media reports on Air India Ahmedabad crash "premature and speculative," the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has urged the media and public to wait for the final report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is leading the inquiry into the deadly Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad. In a statement on X social media platform, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said that recent media reports on the Air India 171 crash are "premature and speculative". "India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau just release ...Read More >
New Delhi: Less than two days following the tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad, another severe aviation scare unfolded in the air. Even worse, an Air India Boeing 777, operating as flight AI187 from Delhi to Vienna, experienced an altitude drop of over 900 feet during its initial climb shortly after takeoff in the overnight hours of June 14. According to officials cited by a leading daily, the wide-body, VT-ALJ, received multiple cockpit alerts while the aeroplane was climbing, including a "stall warning," as well as two "don't sink" alerts from the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS). Th ...Read More >
Investigations into the Air India plane crash are looking into the pilots' medical records as it's claimed one of them had depression and mental health issues. Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, an experienced pilot with more than 8,200 hours in the cockpit, was piloting the Boeing 787 Dreamliner when it plummeted into a residential area, called Meghani Nagar, killing 241 people on board and claiming 19 more lives of those on the ground. Seconds after taking off on June 12, two fuel switches in the cock ...Read More >
WASHINGTON/SEATTLE, July 17 (Reuters) - A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month supports the view that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane's engines, said a source briefed on U.S. officials' early assessment of evidence. The first officer was at the controls of the Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab 787 and asked the captain why he moved the fuel switches into a position that starved the engines of fuel and requested that he rest ...Read More >
The fuel switches that were cut off before the Air India plane crash are designed so that this cannot easily "accidentally" happen, an aviation expert has said. The London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into a medical college shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport on June 12, killing 241 people on board. Another 19 other people also died and 67 were seriously injured. A preliminary report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, published on Friday, said both of the p ...Read More >
BENGALURU, July 15 (Reuters) - Air India said on Tuesday it would partially restore its international flight schedule that was scaled back following the crash involving its flight last month that killed 260 people. As part of the restoration, Air India will start a thrice-weekly service between Ahmedabad and London Heathrow from August 1 to September 30, replacing the currently operating five-times-a-week flights between Ahmedabad and London Gatwick. A Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London fro ...Read More >
NEW DELHI, July 15 (Reuters) - The sudden movement of engine fuel switches has taken centre stage in the investigation of the Air India Boeing Dreamliner crash that killed 260 people in June, the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. The crash poses a fresh challenge for Air India , which has long sought to become a "world-class airline", and Boeing , which is working to restore public trust after a series of safety and production crises. THE INVESTIGATION ** A 15-page preliminary report revealed some of what happened in the cockpit and depicted confusion shortly before the jet ...Read More >