While there have been issues with inflight entertainment, once the food heating system didn't work so no hot tea or coffee. Once the flight the water system conked off but the crew ensured bottled water even in the toilets. But none of these are life threatening.
A friend narrated a story yesterday, told to him by a retired Air India captain. One of the engines caught fire immediately on take off. The Co-Pilot suggested turning around. The Captain instead continued the flight shutting off the engine. He turned the plane after some climb and then signaled emergency landing. The captain remarked to my friend, “if we had turned around immediately at that altitude, a crash was certain”.
Head of Cargo at Bahrain Airport Services where I was deputed for Systems Study more than 40 years back told me that a 747 Jumbo Jet on a cargo flight lost power in three of its engines. The captain flew the plane on one engine and landed it safely.
Aircraft systems are designed for multiple layers of fault tolerance and reliability. Air travel is still one of the safest modes of travel. However, it is finally a technology and it does fail. Alas!
The sad part is the lifelong grief carried by friends and families of the diseased passengers even if it's a rare case of mishap. All of us can only pray to God to bestow them with the strength to bear the loss.
Praying for the families of all those who died because of Air India flight AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad yesterday.
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