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Fatal Dreamliner Crash in Ahmedabad Leaves 246 Dead
Tata Group’s Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, was filled with 242 people when that London-bound aircraft, fully loaded with fuel, crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel right after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, India, on June 12, 2025. Miraculously, Ramesh Vishwashkumar, the sole survivor of the first fatal accident involving a Dreamliner, walked out immediately after crashing and before the plane exploded in a horrific ball of fire. Sadly, the others aboard and on the ground – five students, two doctors and the wife of a doctor who were just eating lunch – all lost their lives.
Global Investigators Recover Black Boxes at Crash Site
It is too early to know who will be held accountable. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau investigators, assisted by the United States NTSB and the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch, are already on scene. Fortunately, they have recovered the black boxes – the flight data recorder, which records thousands of system performance data points, and voice data recorder, which captures the sounds on the flight deck.
Some aviation experts have already noted video from the ground appears to show the wing flaps, which add critical lift on takeoff, were not deployed. But many other things may have caused or contributed to the crash. Was it pilot error? Was the flight crew competent? Did the pilots fail to use the checklist? Did they use it but incorrectly perform it? Did warning system that notifies the pilots if the airplane is not properly configured for takeoff work? Did the pilots heed it? Was the cargo overloaded or did it shift causing a weight and/or balance problem? Was a bird strike or weather to blame? Did a design defect, production defect or maintenance error affect the electronics, hydraulics, fuel system or engines?
Does Boeing’s Safety Record Play a Role?
We all know about Boeing’s and Spirit AeroSystems’ greed-driven troubled quality control cultures exposed by the criminal and civil lawsuits arising from the 737-MAX 8 crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Our firm is pursuing the 737-MAX 9 door-plug lawsuit.
Did Boeing’s design, “optional” safety training and/or culture play a part in dooming this Dreamliner as well? The aircraft used as Flight 171 had already completed over 700 flights successfully. But keep in mind, the unsecured door plug on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 blew out only after 154 flights, so past performance does not guarantee no defect; sometimes it takes time to expose one. Was sabotage and/or terrorism involved? Investigators will look into all of this to determine the cause and whether safety really was the top priority of those in control of the aircraft.
Victims Include Medical Professionals and International Passengers
The deceased aboard Flight 171 include 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. They never landed at London Gatwick Airport, went on to their planned destinations, or on with the rest of their natural lives. Those lost at the medical college, whose lives were committed to heal so many others, now cannot.
Victim Compensation Under International and U.S. Law
Air India will be required to compensate the sole survivor and the deceased survivors according to international law under the Convention for Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air—commonly known as the “Montreal Convention” of 1999. That treaty mandates flat presumptive compensation of128,821 so-called “Special Drawing Rights”, currently worth about $183,000. If the airline can prove it was not negligent, it has no greater liability.
Unfortunately, that treaty does not remotely reflect the value of lives lost, and often does not hold all those at fault accountable for wrongful death. In addition, though government investigations can be extensive, they generally rely on the wrongdoers for information and exclude the families of the dead from that process. Also, their focus is often to find a certain “root cause” of a crash. Though contributing factors are considered, they often are left unresolved. Also, government determinations are generally inadmissible in United States courts as evidence of liability. United States court rules give experienced aviation lawyers the tools to dig deeper to prove liability as to all responsible wrongdoers, and to prove more appropriate, individualized damages. That is why, when United States courts have jurisdiction over a party at fault for an aviation disaster, those courts generally provide the best hope to surviving families for obtaining better justice.
Our thoughts are with all those who perished and their loved ones.