Passenger slams Air India day before crash
A passenger on board an Air India flight has slammed the airline following a major delay due to “technical issues” – a day before Thursday’s tragedy.
A passenger on board an Air India flight has slammed the airline following a three hour delay due to “technical issues” – a day before its AI171 flight crashed.
Leher Sethi, from New Delhi, took to X on June 12 at 4.24am AEST, venting her frustration over Air India flight AI314.
She said the aircraft was scheduled for takeoff at 10.20pm from India’s capital, but two and a half hours later, they were still on the tarmac.
The plane was heading to Hong Kong with Ms Sethi saying boarding didn’t end until 9.50pm. “The crew & captain have been talking of technical issues in some software, the AC units aren’t working, and they aren’t allowing us to deboard!” she wrote in the post.
“No updates either! We have been made hostages on the flight! Isn’t there a rule against it, especially since there are high BP patients & infants on this flight in the midst of Delhi heat minus airconditioning! Truly terrible state of affairs.”
She shared footage of the plane on the tarmac with frustrated passengers waiting in the galley while others sat in their seats. It has been viewed 3.7 million times.
Air India responded to Ms Sethi’s post, apologising for the delay.
“Dear Ms. Sethi, we understand your concern. We’re alerting our team for necessary assistance. Kindly allow us some time.”
She then vented it had been two and a half hours since the flight was supposed to take off.
“We were on the plane for more than 3 hours before taking off, of which the AC didn’t work for 2 hours!!,” she told an X user who asked how long passengers had to wait in the aircraft.
“Some people are saying that we should be grateful they sorted the technical issue before taking off like they did us a favour!”
Others lashed at Ms Sethi, saying she should quit complaining following Thursday night’s horrific news of Air India Flight AI171 crashing with 242 passengers on board.
“Can you imagine the alternative had they not checked out the technical issue. See today’s horrendous news. Think yourself lucky and stop f*****g moaning,” one user commented.
Ms Sethi fired back, saying: “What is wrong is wrong! They should have de-boarded us and arranged an alternate plane or got the plane ready first before making us board. Someone could have suffered a stroke on that flight! They charged us a bomb for that flight. ticket, tax, fuel etc for this very reason!”
Another user responded: “Technical snags can happen all the time, if the PACK system failed or the APU wasn’t firing up correctly, deboarding also becomes a security risk, takes more time and probably is way less efficient.”
The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, has since landed safely in Hong Kong.
It is the same make as the doomed Air India Flight AI171. The aircraft crashed and exploded into flames shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in India’s west on Thursday.
The signal from the aircraft was lost at 08:08 UTC (13:38 local time) at 625 feet, less than a minute after take off, according to FlightRadar.
The flight was headed to London Gatwick Airport and there were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian on-board, according to the airline.
“Approximately 294 have died. This includes some students as the plane crashed on the building where they were staying,” Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, told Reuters.
Miraculously, one British man, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, survived the incident.
His brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, told the BBC Mr Ramesh “has no idea how he survived”.
“We were all in shock as soon as we heard what happened, just utter shock. Speechless,” Nayan said.
“ (Vishwashkumar) himself has no idea how he survived, how he got out the plane.
“When he called us he was just more worried about my other brother (who was on the flight), like ‘Find Ajay, find Ajay’. That’s all he cares about at the moment.”
‘Losing power’: Pilot’s last words
The pilot of the doomed flight, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, warned the plane was “losing power” moments before it smashed into the doctors’ hostel.
“Mayday (...) no thrust, losing power, unable to lift,” Captain Sabharwal, who had years of experience and had spent 8200 hours in the air over his career, called out down his radio, The Sun reports.
The plane had just a few hundred feet of altitude when the power apparently cut out.
Capt Sabharwal and his co-pilot, Officer Clive Kundar, wrestled for 17 seconds with the controls before the jet careened into the buildings below.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson expressed “deep sorrow” over the disaster.
“I would like to express our deep sorrow about this event,” he said in a video statement posted on X.
“This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, their families and loved ones.”
The crash was the first ever for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to AFP.
US plane maker Boeing said it was ready to support Air India following the incident.
“We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them,” said a Boeing statement.
“Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected.”
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