Air India axes eight flights as entire Dreamliner fleet inspected after crash

Eight international flights due to be operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners have been cancelled by Air India. They included services to London, Paris, Vienna and Dubai
Air India has cancelled eight international flights and is inspecting it's entire fleet of Dreamliners as the investigation into last week's tragic crash continues. The axed flights, which affected services to cities including London, Paris, Vienna and Dubai, were all due to be operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners - the aircraft model involved in the Flight 171 crash last Thursday.
The airline cited a combination of aircraft unavailability, technical issues, airspace restrictions and extended safety checks as reasons behind the cancellations. At least three other flights operated by the same aircraft model have been grounded or delayed in the past 48 hours after the airline was ordered by India's aviation regulator to inspect its entire fleet.
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A flight due to depart Ahmedabad towards London Gatwick - the same route as the doomed aircraft in which all crew and passengers, except for one British man, lost their life - was also cancelled on Tuesday.
An airline spokesman said the flight was cancelled "due to the unavailability of the aircraft, resulting from airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks, leading to longer than usual turnaround of aircraft."
On Tuesday, India's aviation safety watchdog said surveillance conducted on the Boeing 787 fleet - which is a key component of the airline's long-haul planes - didn't reveal any major safety concerns.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement: "The aircraft and associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards."
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The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, bound for London Gatwick, crashed shortly after take-off with 242 people on board. Everyone on board, apart from Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was killed.
As the plane came down, it also hit nearby buildings, killing 29 people on the ground. Investigators in the country are now studying the black boxes that were recovered from the aircraft wreckage to ascertain the cause of the crash.
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The black boxes will provide cockpit conversations and data related to the plane's engine and control settings to investigators and help them in determining the cause of the tragedy, which was one of India's worst aviation disaster in decades.
Experts from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are probing the crash with assistance from the UK, the UK and officials from Boeing. Former pilot and an aviation expert Amit Singh said the recovery of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders are crucial to piece together the sequence of events.
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The cockpit voice recorder records pilots' conversation, emergency alarms and any distress signal made before a crash. The plane's digital flight data recorder stores information related to engine and control settings. Both devices are designed to survive a crash.
"The data will reveal everything," Mr Singh said, adding that the technical details could be corroborated by the cockpit voice recorder that would help investigators know of any communication between air traffic control and the pilots. India's aviation regulatory body has said the aircraft made a mayday call before the crash.
Singh said the investigating authorities will scan CCTV footage of the nearby area and speak with witnesses to get to the root cause of the crash.
Mr Singh said the investigators will also study the pilot training records, total load of the aircraft, thrust issues related to the plane's engine, as well as its worthiness in terms of past performances and any previously reported issues.

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