It has been six months since the Air India Express flight crashed upon landing in Kozhikode, killing 18 people and injuring many more. While the official investigation has concluded, for the families of the victims, the questions remain. They gather in small living rooms in Kerala, clutching photographs and waiting for a call that might explain why their loved ones never came home.
At the centre of their grief is a demand for accountability, not just from the airline, but from the system that allowed a veteran pilot to land on a tabletop runway in the monsoon rain, against all safety protocols. The voice recorder and flight data have been analysed, but the human cost endures. Why was the captain allowed to fly after previous incidents?
Why did the first officer not intervene? Why did the plane have only one functional engine after the go-around? The answers, when they come, will not bring back the dead.
But they might restore a measure of trust in a system that has failed too many times.
