Air India Dreamliner identical to doomed flight AI171 'suffered engine failure before making emergency landing' in 2023

17 June 2025, 08:33 | Updated: 17 June 2025, 10:39

An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner identical to the one involved in the crash that killed at least 270 people last week reportedly had an engine failure before making an emergency landing two years ago.

The airliner was reportedly forced to turn back just an hour into its 14-hour flight from Mumbai to London in August 2023, according to India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Pilots said they heard a “loud thud” immediately before the left engine lost power, the DGCA’s investigation report claimed.

Similarly, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the only survivor of the Air India disaster last week, also said he heard a “loud noise” before Air India flight AI171 crashed, killing at least 270 people.

Investigators probing the August 2023 engine failure found that the Boeing’s left-hand engine failed after a turbine blade was incorrectly bolted in during routine maintenance, later breaking loose.

General Electric, the US firm which made the engine, inspected its failure on the DGCA’s behalf.

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It found that the “release” of a high-pressure compressor blade “had occurred due to improper installation of locking lugs of HPC Stage 10”.

Meanwhile, the DGCA was also found to have less than half the required staff in place.

Indian parliamentarians previously warned they had 'fundamental concerns' about the staff shortages in the country's aviation sector, particularly in the regulatory bodies.

In fact, a report by the Indian parliament's transport committee revealed that 1,633 available posts, just 754 were filled. This left 879 vacancies in total.

The report read: "The committee notes with serious concern the high number of vacancies across key aviation regulatory and operational bodies, particularly in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, and the Airports Authority of India.

"The DGCA, responsible for aviation safety and regulatory oversight, has a vacancy rate exceeding 53 per cent, raising fundamental concerns about its capacity to enforce aviation safety standards effectively."

Meanwhile, nearly 35% of jobs were left unfilled at the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security - the body tasked with maintaining aviation security.

The report warned that this posed "risks to the robustness of security oversight at airports".

A spokesman said: "The committee is deeply concerned that chronic understaffing in these institutions could undermine safety, security, and service delivery standards, particularly as air traffic volumes continue to rise.

"The committee urges the Ministry of Civil Aviation to expedite the recruitment process to fill vacancies across DGCA, BCAS, and AAI, ensuring that regulatory oversight, security enforcement, and airport operations are not compromised."

The Air India disaster last week saw a Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash to the ground, killing at least 270 people.

Less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in northwestern India, the London-bound plane crashed and exploded into a fireball. Of the 242 people onboard, 241 died.

There was only one survivor, who was in seat 11A on the plane.

He walked out of the rubble with only superficial injuries.

As investigations continue, questions are being raised about how the tragedy occurred and the safety of flying in general, given several high-profile cases that have been witnessed in the past few years.

Video shows the plane struggling to gain elevation after takeoff and reaching only 190m.

David Gleave, a former accident investigator, told reporters: “It’s a very unusual accident … it’s a very unusual situation, so soon after takeoff, and it is a very safe aeroplane.”

Boeing has hit the headlines in recent years with other models having been involved in fatal crashes around the world, but this was the first time the 787 Dreamliner had been involved in an accident where anybody died.

Crashes involving the Boeing 737 Max killed hundreds of people in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.