13/06/2025
The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash off Ahmedabad on a hot summer afternoon of 12th June is a rude shock and angst for the countless across the world. While Air travel, with all its modern gadgets and electronics ensuring maximum safety features in the landscape of different birds manufactured by the leading companies( particularly Airbus and Boeing),to the extent of reassuring that it’s safer than surface transport, is cruelly dotted with tragic accidents plucking lives at different stages. Whether such crashes occur during the course of the flight, immediately on take off or moments before landing it doesn’t matter. The harsh reality is that when you are airborne every take off and landing is a blessing. The comfort of being grounded at the time if any mishap to look for escape is nullified in midair. Aviation electronics with all its development over the years, despite reassurances as to the various safety support systems in place, suffers from sudden failure of electrical systems or electronic systems wither if which could be fatal at any altitude. That air travel has shrunk the distance between continents to few hours in a day is something which is undeniably an engineering / aviation technological achievement without doubt. Millions of travelers jet setting everyday carrying out their official / personal work perhaps unionsful of the probability of occurrnces beyond the controls of experienced pilots ( however low it could still be) would look to technological advancement to significantly secure their lives mid-air.
Whatever said and done accidents, however far and few in between, do occur throwing up unknown risks of malfunctioning or human error; these are stark reminders to strengthen the standard operating procedures which need to be automated to a great extent ( as otherwise human intervention could jeopardize the purpose whatever may be the experience of those sitting behind machines and gadgets ).
Lives lost can never be compensated… it’s easy to get philosophical here … but the lives of human being and the modes of transport are so undeniably intertwined that one is forced to walk into such comforts knowing full well that, despite reassurances on dependability of machines, that minuscule percentage of uncertainty will continue to disturb fidgety air travelers .
In this hour of grief for those families who lost their dear ones let us stand together sharing their misfortune and hope that futuristic air travel witnesseth nothing like such gastly mishaps.
