Tech snags have been happening; we are just noticing them now!

Raju Korti
After the tragic crash of the Ahmedabad–London Air India flight, what has followed is a string of incidents that has suddenly thrown the spotlight on the safety of Indian aviation, and while some of the panic is understandable, I can’t help but ask. Have these snags and scares really become more frequent, or is it just that we are now noticing them more because social media amplifies every turbulence in the sky?

It is hard to ignore how, within just a week of the crash, several aircraft across carriers have either grounded, returned mid-air, suffered bird hits, or made emergency landings. Air India’s San Francisco–Mumbai flight had to land in Kolkata due to an engine snag, another Delhi–Pune Air India flight returned after a bird strike, an IndiGo plane headed to Madurai was forced to turn back, and cancellations have piled up with Air India grounding at least 66 Dreamliner flights amid scrutiny over safety protocols. And there are many.

But all of this isn’t necessarily new. For decades, technical issues, bird hits, minor component failures have been part of flying life, only they were dealt with quietly, efficiently, and usually without any public drama, especially in a pre-Twitter era when pilots didn’t have to worry about passengers live-streaming their fear or media portals dissecting every maintenance log in real time.

(Pic representational)

In fact, I remember a time back in 2009 -- long before Indian Airlines was merged into Air India. I boarded a flight from Mumbai to Nagpur, and within 20 minutes of take-off, the pilot’s calm voice came through the cabin speakers: “There seems to be a problem with the pressurization, we’re turning back to Mumbai.” I still recall the look of anxiety spreading quietly across faces, some white-knuckled grips on armrests, some murmurs of nervous laughter, but the pilot reassured us with a “there’s nothing to worry about,” and we returned to Mumbai without incident, only to board a replacement aircraft shortly after. Nobody tweeted, nobody panicked publicly, nobody demanded an inquiry. It was one of those things you accepted as part of the flying experience.

Contrast that with today, where every alert message, every maintenance delay, every aborted take-off becomes a trending topic, dissected by aviation experts, influencers, and doomsday soothsayers alike. It is not that aviation has suddenly become less safe; it has just become more visible, more discussed, and more scrutinized than ever before.

What is interesting -- and concerning -- is the emerging economic fallout, with many fliers now second-guessing their travel plans, especially when booking with Air India, where Dreamliner reliability has come under fire, and understandably so. After all, when a crash shakes public confidence, every subsequent technical snag starts to look ominous, even if it is unrelated.

Flight bookings have reportedly dipped, passenger sentiment is jittery, and while aviation experts keep reminding us that air travel remains statistically far safer than road or rail travel, public emotion doesn’t always move in sync with data. It is also worth noting that India, despite a growing aviation market and ambitious fleet expansions, still struggles with the basics of safety compliance, engineering vigilance, and wildlife control near airports --factors that don’t necessarily cause disasters but do erode public trust if not addressed transparently.

To that end, I believe the only way airlines and regulators can restore confidence is through proactive transparency and visible action -- publish incident data routinely, provide context, invest in wildlife hazard mitigation, communicate swiftly when things go wrong, and above all, empower pilots and maintenance staff to speak up without fear.

The DGCA must enforce third-party audits more rigorously, and airlines must ensure that safety doesn’t take a backseat to scheduling pressures or operational cost-cutting. Flyers are not unreasonable. They do understand things can go wrong but what they demand now is reassurance that when things do go wrong, the system responds swiftly and truthfully. In a sense, this moment could be an opportunity for Indian aviation to rebuild trust not by pretending everything is perfect, but by showing that it is willing to acknowledge flaws, fix them, and keep the flying public informed every step of the way.

So yes, these incidents have been happening for years. Only now, they fly with us into our timelines, our chatrooms, our collective anxiety. The sky hasn’t suddenly become more dangerous. It has just become more transparent, more accountable, and more emotionally fraught. Whether that is a blessing or a burden depends entirely on how we choose to respond -- calmly, critically, and above all, constructively.