Air India flight plunged 900ft after takeoff in terrifying mid-air incident
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.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
The radical 1960s schools experiment that created a whole new alphabet – and left thousands of children unable to spell
Throughout my life, my mum has always been a big reader. She was in three or four book clubs at the same time. She'd devour whatever texts my siblings and I were studying in school, handwrite notes for our lunchboxes and write in her diary every night. Our fridge door was a revolving display of word-of-the-day flashcards. Despite this, she also was and remains, by some margin, the worst speller I have met. By the time I was in primary school, she was already asking me to proofread her work emails, often littered with mistakes that were glaringly obvious to me even at such a young age. It used to baffle me – how could this person, who races through multiple books a week and can quote Shakespeare faultlessly, possibly think 'me' is spelt with two Es? It was on one of these occasions that she first mentioned she had been taught the wrong alphabet. 'Google it,' she said. 'It was an experiment, so it doesn't exist any more, but it was called ITA.' At first, I thought she was joking, or maybe misremembering some exaggerated version of phonics. But later, I looked it up and, sure enough, there it was – a strange chart of more than 40 characters, many familiar, others alien. Sphinx-like ligatures, odd slashes, conjoined vowels – it looked like a cross between English and Greek. 'My memory is so poor, but I can still see those devilish characters,' my mum, Judith Loffhagen, says as we sit in the garden of my childhood home in London. 'An 'a' with an 'e' on its back, two 'c's with a line across them.' She traces the shapes on her trouser leg. 'What the hell was any of that supposed to mean?' The Initial Teaching Alphabet was a radical, little-known educational experiment trialled in British schools (and in other English-speaking countries) during the 1960s and 70s. Billed as a way to help children learn to read faster by making spelling more phonetically intuitive, it radically rewrote the rules of literacy for tens of thousands of children seemingly overnight. And then it vanished without explanation. Barely documented, rarely acknowledged, and quietly abandoned – but never quite forgotten by those it touched. Why was it only implemented in certain schools – or even, in some cases, only certain classes in those schools? How did it appear to disappear without record or reckoning? Are there others like my mum, still aggrieved by ITA? And what happens to a generation taught to read and write using a system that no longer exists? English is one of the most difficult languages to learn to read and write. Unlike Spanish or Welsh, where letters have consistent sound values, English is a patchwork of linguistic inheritances. Its roughly 44 phonemes – the distinct sounds that make up speech – can each be spelt multiple ways. The long 'i' sound alone, as in 'eye', has more than 20 possible spellings. And many letter combinations contradict one another across different words: think of 'through', 'though' and 'thought'. It was precisely this inconsistency that Conservative MP Sir James Pitman – grandson of Sir Isaac Pitman, the inventor of shorthand – identified as the single greatest obstacle for young readers. In a 1953 parliamentary debate, he argued that it is our 'illogical and ridiculous spelling' which is the 'chief handicap' that leads many children to stumble with reading, with lasting consequences for their education. His proposed solution, launched six years later, was radical: to completely reimagine the alphabet. The result was ITA: 44 characters, each representing a distinct sound, designed to bypass the chaos of traditional English and teach children to read, and fast. Among the host of strange new letters were a backwards 'z', an 'n' with a 'g' inside, a backwards 't' conjoined with an 'h', a bloated 'w' with an 'o' in the middle. Sentences in ITA were all written in lower case. By 1966, 140 of the 158 UK education authorities taught ITA in at least one of their schools. The new alphabet was not intended as a permanent replacement for the existing one: the aim was to teach children to read quickly, with the promise they would transition 'seamlessly' into the standard alphabet by the age of seven or eight. But often, that seamless transition never quite happened. Many children – my mum included – found themselves caught between two systems. My mum grew up in Blackburn in the 1960s, a bright child who skipped a year and started secondary school early. She doesn't remember the details of how ITA was introduced. 'That's just what we were taught,' she tells me. 'I didn't know there was another way, or that I was going to graduate on to something else. 'I'm nearly 60, and poor spelling has dogged me my whole life,' she continues. 'Teachers always used to make jokes about my spelling, and I'd get those dreaded red rings around my work.' English was always her favourite subject, but it quickly became a source of shame. 'I remember that absolute dread of reading in front of the class, stumbling on words. And then, at A-level, I'll never forget my English teacher said to me, 'You'll never get an A because of your spelling.' That was crushing. English was the one subject I loved – I felt so aggrieved.' In the 60s, parental involvement in schooling was minimal, especially for working-class or immigrant families (my mum's parents migrated from Nigeria in the early 60s). 'Back then, parents wanted you to succeed in whatever you were being taught, but they didn't really question what you were being taught,' she says. 'There was also a reverence for British education, that whole colonial thing, the idea that the British know best.' Despite her inability to spell, she became a solicitor, and later started her own business. 'Spellcheckers revolutionised my confidence in writing,' she says. 'I hate making mistakes. If I'm the slightest bit unsure of how to spell something, I'll check it. I'm fanatical about the importance of getting those things right.' Prof Dominic Wyse, professor of early years education at University College London, says: 'ITA is regarded now as an experiment that just didn't work. The transition to the standard alphabet was the problem. Children were having to almost relearn the real way the English language works. It doesn't surprise me that it failed. Any teaching that is based on anything other than the reality of what has to be learned is a waste of time.' Prof Rhona Stainthorp, an expert in literacy development at the University of Reading, agrees. 'It was a bizarre thing to do,' she says. 'Pitman wasn't an educationist, and ITA is a perfect example of someone thinking they've got a good idea and trying to simplify something, but having absolutely no idea about teaching.' Sarah Kitt, now 60, was taught ITA at her state primary school in Plymouth in the late 1960s. For her, the legacy of ITA has lingered long past childhood. 'I can tell when a word is wrong,' she says, 'but I can't always make it right. I get these complete blanks.' Her memories of those early years are clouded not just by the outre alphabet, but by the emotional toll it took. 'I hated English. I would get to the school gates, burst into tears, and turn around and walk home again,' she says. 'I had a teacher who wasn't very sympathetic. I felt so stupid. I used to wonder whether I was dyslexic.' When Kitt was nine, she moved to Exeter. She quickly realised that other children at her new school hadn't been taught to read and write the way she had. 'You just learned to mask it,' she says. 'You found ways to avoid spelling altogether.' Kitt was put off humanities, and went on to study economics and statistics at university before working at the Bank of England for more than a decade. Before the digital era, she relied on her mother to check her essays. 'At university, we didn't have computers and spellcheck. I would get my mum to read through things.' Now a parent herself, Kitt is wary of any classroom experiment that puts children at risk of long-term disadvantage. She says: 'I'd be hugely concerned if my daughter was taught like that. There would be more parent power now – people would be questioning it in WhatsApp groups. We didn't have that.' Like others who learned ITA, Sarah's frustration isn't just with the method itself, but with the lack of transparency. 'It seemed to just disappear,' she says. 'There was no explanation. No one ever followed up to ask: how did this affect you?' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Stainthorp says there's not enough evidence to prove ITA had a bad impact on spelling: 'People who learned with ITA might blame their bad spelling on it, but there are many people who are bad spellers who didn't learn with ITA, and vice versa.' Spelling proficiency is shaped by a tangle of factors, from teacher quality and parental involvement to self-esteem and natural aptitude. While many former pupils who used ITA blame their lifelong spelling struggles on it, others have had no such problems. In fact, early reports of ITA's effects were largely positive. Infant school teachers noted that reading ability among children taught with ITA outpaced those learning with the standard alphabet. But a 1966 study demonstrated that any initial superior reading fluency of ITA learners began to fade at around age eight. Toni Brocklehurst, who taught ITA for four years in Lancashire in the early 1970s, still believes it gave many of her pupils – especially those from socially deprived homes – a head start. 'These were kids who had no books at home,' she tells me. 'Once they'd learned those characters, they could decode anything in that alphabet. It gave them a huge boost in confidence.' However, she continues: 'I don't think it would work for all children. It wouldn't work for middle-class children who are being introduced to reading books at home, because it would confuse them.' The biggest challenge to ITA's success was always going to be the transition back to the standard alphabet. And because pupils did that at different ages, many teachers were left juggling both alphabets simultaneously within the same class. Even more puzzling is the way the system was rolled out. ITA was never adopted nationally, nor required. As Stainthorp explains: 'At that time, there was no national curriculum – a headteacher could simply decide to implement it in their school, or a teacher in their class. There was no consistency.' In the early 70s, Mike Alder was a pupil at Devonshire Road infants' school in Blackpool. He was strong at maths and science, placed in top sets, and on track for good O-levels. But English was always different. 'We had little thin cardboard books,' he remembers. 'Stories about Paul and Sally. The letters were odd – some of them were joined together, like an 'e' and an 'a' welded into one shape. At first, I didn't question it. I just thought that's how everyone learned to read.' For Alder, the abrupt transition from ITA to the standard alphabet felt like a betrayal. 'It was like they said: 'Right, we've told you a pack of lies for the past two years, now this is how you're actually meant to read and write.' My disgust at being lied to, that loss of trust, that stuck with me. I was never interested in English after that.' He believes that ITA has had a long-term impact on his attainment. 'My spelling is still appalling,' he says. 'In all my subjects, I was getting As and Bs, but in English I really struggled. I got a C at O-level.' He remembers one friend, also taught in ITA, who had to retake English years later at sixth form just to move forward academically. 'It definitely held people back.' Now 58, Alder works as a technical specialist in electrical ground equipment at BAE Systems in Blackpool. Though he has built a successful career, spelling remains a daily obstacle. 'I rely on spellcheck constantly. I sent an email today and 15-20% of the words had that red underline.' For decades, Alder assumed ITA was just a strange footnote in his own education. 'When I tell people about it, most say, 'What's that?' No one's ever heard of it. It's like it never happened. I'd love to read a proper lessons-learned document from it. What did they find? What did they conclude? Because, to me, it felt like they tried something, realised it didn't work, and just buried it. If either of my kids had been taught ITA,' he adds, 'I'd have pulled them out of school with immediate effect.' The issue isn't simply whether or not ITA worked – the problem is that no one really knows. For all its scale and ambition, the experiment was never followed by a national longitudinal study. No one tracked whether the children who learned to read with ITA went on to excel, or struggle, as they moved through the education system. There was no formal inquiry into why the scheme was eventually dropped, and no comprehensive lessons-learned document to account for its legacy. In some ways, ITA is an extreme manifestation of a debate about early-years education that is still relevant today. The 'reading wars' – the long-running tension between phonics-led approaches, which involve breaking down and sounding out words, and those that emphasise context, comprehension and whole-language exposure – are very much alive. English's chaotic spelling system continues to divide experts and frustrate learners. In 2022, a landmark study by researchers at UCL's Institute of Education found that the current emphasis on synthetic phonics is 'uninformed and failing children', and 'not underpinned by the latest evidence'. Some defenders of ITA, like Brocklehurst, think its logic wasn't so far removed from phonics – now a government-mandated method for teaching reading in UK primary schools. But there's a key difference; phonics uses the same structure of the alphabet as every other bit of English language. What ITA reveals is how tempting it is to try to simplify a problem that is, in truth, irreducibly complex. There was a clarity to its premise: let's make English easier. But the cost of that simplicity may have been borne by a generation of children, many of whom are still unsure of its impacts. 'You've only got one education,' my mum says. 'I do feel really resentful. My parents aren't alive any more, but on their behalf as well – and as a parent now – I'd be absolutely furious to think that my children were put into an experiment without me being asked.' She pauses for a moment. 'We weren't given a choice, we weren't asked and we weren't explained to. I think it's telling that it seems like this experiment slipped in and slipped out quietly. Fifty years later, we're still suffering as a result.'
Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
I got quoted over £2.5k to wrap my clinical white kitchen, so did it myself for under £100 and folk love the results
Read on for more DIY tips to transform your home HOUSE THAT I got quoted over £2.5k to wrap my clinical white kitchen, so did it myself for under £100 and folk love the results Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A SAVVY woman has shared how she transformed her kitchen and saved herself thousands in the process. Maisie Isabella, from the UK, wanted to give her kitchen an update without spending a fortune. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Maisie was quoted £2.5k to transform her clinical white kitchen Credit: Tiktok/@maisabellaa 2 But she decided to do it herself for less than £100 Credit: Tiktok/@maisabellaa Taking to social media, Maisie shared the entire transformation she ended up doing all by herself after being quoted over £2,500 by professionals. She said: "I got quoted £2,500 to wrap my kitchen. "I just wasn't feeling the glossy white anymore. It felt a bit clinical and dated. "I was feeling a little bit delusional and impulsive, so I was like, 'I'm gonna do it myself.'" Maisie started her transformation by taking a picture of her kitchen and asking AI what colour would look best. The AI suggested a dark wood effect for the counters, so Maisie did exactly that and bought a bunch of vinyl sheets to cover her kitchen. Maisie used the Fablon Wood Effect Sticky Back Plastic from Dunelm in Deep Walnut, which cost just £5 a roll. It was going smoothly until Maisie got to the cupboard and drawers and she realised how tricky applying the vinyl can be. "I can see why people charge the amount they do, because this is not easy," she added. Maisie used an array of tools to get the vinyl to stick on smoothly; she used a hair dryer to make sure no air got in and then an old ID card to smooth out any bubbles. While the job took ages and wasn't the easiest, the end results were worth it. Her kitchen went from clinically white to homely in a matter of hours. She added: "Honestly so proud of myself that I did this for under £100 even if it cost me my patience and sanity." The clip soon went viral on her TikTok account @maisabellaa with over 1.4 million views and 98k likes. People were quick to praise Maisie for her DIY skills and loved the new kitchen. "You can't tell me that this doesn't look good." Eight Easy DIY Tips & Tricks The ultimate guide for homeowners and renters: DIY expert's lazy painting hack will make decorating your home much easier Save time and money with this easy DIY tiling hack to transform a room in under an hour Avoid these five mistakes in your next DIY project Transform your kitchen with this renter-friendly DIY hack Noisy neighbours? Here's how to soundproof a room DIY expert shared her favourite strategy for painting around glass without tape If you want to give your kitchen a fresh look, here's how to paint your kitchen cabinets Five tricks to spruce up every room in your home for less than £5 One person wrote: "This looks so much more homely!!! Gives character instead of institution." Another commented: "This is what my husband does for a living and he said you did a great job!" "I was dubious, but this looks so much better," penned a third. Meanwhile a fourth said: "Sooooo much better and warmer." "Was a bit skeptical but it turned out really good,' claimed a fifth Someone else added: "I'm seriously impressed."
Times
10 hours ago
- Times
Parents told to pick up book in ‘kickstart to children's reading revolution'
Parents should put down their phones and pick up a book to tackle a big fall in children's reading rates, the education secretary has said as she launches a national campaign. The National Year of Reading will be announced today by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) and the Department for Education (DfE) and will bring together schools, libraries, charities and businesses to kickstart 'a reading revolution'. Starting in January, its aim will be to increase reading particularly among children under five, teenage boys and also parents, who will be encouraged to act as role models by reading more often for pleasure. Only a third of children aged eight to 18 years old now read in their free time, according to the NLT, as books struggle to compete with smartphones and streaming. The collapse in reading is particularly stark among eight to 18-year-old boys, halving in a decade from 52 per cent to 26 per cent.
