We have become a people who cannot build a bridge without a dozen inquiries. And now, with the crash of Air India Flight 171, we discover that the most modern of machines can still fall from the sky, not by the hand of God, but by the slow rot of systemic neglect. Fury is the right word. But let us not mistake fury for wisdom.
This tragedy, which has claimed so many lives, is not an isolated failure. It is the predictable outcome of an aviation industry that has become a temple of cost-cutting, regulatory capture, and the death of craftsmanship. The UK aviation experts demanding an inquiry are right to do so. Yet they must also look beyond the black box. They must look at the soul of an era that prizes efficiency over excellence, statistics over safety, and profit over people.
I am reminded of the late Roman Empire, where the grain shipments from Egypt grew ever more fraught with peril as the state neglected the roads and docks. Or of the Victorian era, when railway accidents prompted a furious public outcry that led to the Regulation of Railways Act 1852. Then, as now, the system had rotted from within. The difference is that Victorians understood that a tragedy was a call to moral reform. Today, we merely call for another review panel.
Let me be clear: the systemic safety lapses in Air India’s fleet are not an anomaly. They are the fruit of a global culture that has outsourced responsibility, reduced maintenance budgets, and allowed pilots to become data-entry clerks in the sky. When safety is a checkbox rather than a habit, the fall is inevitable.
The fury of the public is righteous. But a proper inquiry must be more than a witch-hunt. It must be a radical rethinking of what we value. We must demand not just better regulations, but a return to the old virtues: pride in work, accountability at every level, and a refusal to accept the mediocre. That is the only way to honour the dead.
Keywords: Air India Flight 171, crash, inquiry, aviation safety, systemic failure
Category: Opinion & Analysis
