Can a faulty in-flight entertainment system or sub-par air-conditioning inside an aircraft cabin be a harbinger of impending disaster? Experts will probably dismiss such possibilities citing technical logic that disproves linkages between such malfunctions and the more crucial operating systems of a giant aircraft. But can passengers be blamed for thinking of such connections when faced with the seemingly inexplicable crash of AI-171 seconds after take-off?

Speaking from personal experience, warm cabins, shabby onboard equipment, erratic food quality and seemingly inconsistent standard operating procedures are worryingly common. On a recent Delhi-Kolkata flight, there were no cool towels, extra bottles of water or announcements by the captain but all three were there on a Kolkata-Mumbai flight four days later. None of these portend future crashes but they do raise questions about Air India’s quality control protocol.

In many countries passengers clap every time their plane lands safely, even though air travel has become a very commonplace occurrence. That is because every human with a modicum of scientific knowledge understands that the laws of gravity are being defied to haul a very heavy aircraft into the skies and safely bringing it back down again, with only the continuous efficiency of all onboard systems keeping it from plummeting to Earth at any moment.

When experts say some aircraft is the safest in the sky—as the Dreamliner was always touted to be—the unspoken thought in many minds is always, “Till the first crash". Even after AI-171’s tragic end, some aviation experts are bravely saying that the Dreamliner remains largely safe and all of them should not be grounded pending investigation and inspections. The commercial ramifications of such a diktat at peak holiday travel season is very obvious.

Aviation websites are replete with inexplicable statistics such as........

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