By Arvind Sharma
The tragic crash of the London-bound Air India Boeing flight in Ahmedabad has once again jolted the collective conscience of a nation. With 240 lives lost within minutes, families were shattered and hundreds left grieving. It has forced us to confront an unsettling question: In a world that prides itself on technological advancement and safety protocols, how is it that we still remain so vulnerable?
Soon after the news of the crash broke, Dr Sandeep ,a renowned doctor and close friend messaged me :
“Life is so unpredictable… you go for a vacation, and terrorists shoot you. You attend a trophy parade, and it ends in a stampede. You board a flight for work or leisure, and it crashes. You’re studying quietly in your hostel, and a plane falls on you.”
His words ring painfully true. Despite the marvels of science and the sophistication of our machines, death still strikes swiftly and indiscriminately. As we spend thousands of rupees to buy flight tickets—sometimes to fulfil dreams, sometimes out of necessity—are we, in some tragic cases, unknowingly buying our own doom?
To place things in perspective, aviation remains statistically one of the safest modes of transport. On average, more than 100,000 passenger flights take off daily across the world, operated by both domestic and international carriers. This number can swell to over 120,000 flights a day during peak travel seasons, with up to 80–90% of them carrying passengers. These figures are reassuring, and one crash among thousands might appear negligible on paper—but for those who lose loved ones, the statistics provide no comfort.
In a cruel irony, the Ahmedabad crash is now being dubbed India’s worst air disaster since the infamous Air India Flight 182 explosion over the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland in 1985, which killed 329 people—most of them Indians and Canadians. And yet, decades later, in 21 century -we still grapple with catastrophic failures.
Aviation experts are now divided over how to make air travel foolproof. Some are advocating for robotic piloting, suggesting that artificial intelligence may eliminate human error, which remains one of the leading causes of air accidents. Several developed nations have already begun experimenting with autonomous taxis and pilotless drones.
Others propose fighter jet-style passenger ejection systems, enabling people to eject safely in case of technical failures or mid-air crises. There are also calls for airlines to implement absolute takeoff refusal protocols if any signs of malpractice, technical glitches, or procedural violations are detected—no matter the cost or delay.
But even as we debate technology, regulations, and futuristic solutions, a deeper truth gnaws at us: progress alone does not guarantee safety. No machine, however advanced, can yet shield us from the randomness of fate.
What we need now is a global reckoning—a renewed focus on aviation safety, transparent investigations, and stricter enforcement of airworthiness standards. Every passenger boarding a flight deserves not just a comfortable journey but a guarantee of life. Until then, each ticket carries not just the promise of a destination, but the silent hope that we will arrive.
………………..The writer is a Sr journalist based in Dharamsala (HP)
