Two pilots have been grounded following the worrying incident which came a matter of days after the doomed Air India flight to London Gatwick crashed after take off
An Air India flight from Delhi to Vienna experienced a sudden 900ft drop moments after takeoff just days after a deadly crash in Ahmedabad.
The June 14 incident prompted a full-scale investigation and the grounding of both pilots. Flight AI-187, a Boeing 777, departed Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2.56 am a fortnight ago, and landed safely in Vienna after a nine-hour journey.
However, moments after takeoff, the aircraft triggered multiple cockpit alerts—including stall warnings and repeated “Don’t sink” proximity alarms, raising serious safety concerns. Air India confirmed that the pilots acted swiftly to stabilise the aircraft despite challenging weather conditions.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was immediately informed, and data from the aircraft’s flight recorders has since been retrieved for analysis. Pending the outcome of the investigation, both pilots have been taken off duty, according to local media reports.
The DGCA has also summoned Air India’s Head of Safety for an explanation and launched a detailed audit of the airline’s operations. This incident occurred just 38 hours after another Air India tragedy: a London-bound Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, killing nearly 270 people.
A recent DGCA safety audit flagged recurring maintenance lapses and poor fault rectification across Air India’s fleet. Earlier this month, several flights reported technical issues, prompting the aviation regulator to begin a comprehensive review of the airline’s base in Gurugram.
The audit, which began on June 23, covers flight planning, scheduling, rostering, and the Integrated Operations Control Centre (IOCC). As investigators examine whether weather, mechanical failure, or pilot error contributed to the Vienna-bound flight’s altitude loss, the findings could lead to stricter oversight and changes in operational protocols.
This weekend it was revealed that Air India investigators are probing whether the tragic plane crash could have been caused by sabotage. Only one passenger, British man Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash on June 12, which happened shortly after the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner took off from Ahmedabad in western India. The plane, with 52 Brits on board, was bound for London Gatwick.
An investigation was immediately launched after the tragedy – and the Indian government has now revealed investigators are looking into sabotage as a possible cause. Murlidhar Mohol, the country’s Minister of State for Civil Aviation, said: “The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has begun a full probe. It is being assessed from all angles, including any possible sabotage.”
There has previously been speculation of potential sabotage, but this is the first time officials have formally acknowledged they are looking into it as a possible cause of the crash. On Thursday, the country’s civil aviation ministry said investigators had begun analysing data extracted from the black boxes of the plane. The data is crucial as it will help shed light on the cause of the crash.
“These efforts aim to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the accident and identify contributing factors to enhance aviation safety and prevent future occurrences,” the ministry said. The probe is being carried out by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, or AAIB, with support from the US National Transport Safety Board.
Indian investigators recovered the black boxes from the wreckage site a couple of days after the crash. These boxes – which are typically orange, not black – are considered the most important pieces of forensic evidence following a plane crash. There are typically two sturdy devices, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder.
The black boxes were flown from Ahmedabad to the national capital, New Delhi, in an Indian Air Force aircraft amid tight security early this week. The investigation could take weeks or months.