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First Post
an hour ago
- Business
- First Post
Air India crash: How to spin-doctor and peddle narratives, the Western way
Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore used to terrorise villainous Western media by suing them in his courts. They learned to toe the line read more There has been a virtual masterclass lately in the creation and dissemination of biased narratives. Not only in the case of the ill-fated Air India 171 (Boeing 787, June 12, 2025) that crashed, but also in some other, unrelated instances. The age-old practices of 'truth by repeated assertion' and 'dubious circular references' as well as 'strategic silence' have all been deployed in full force. The bottom line with the Air India flight: there is reasonable doubt about whether there was mechanical/software failure and/or sabotage or possible pilot error. Any or all of these caused both engines to turn off in flight. But the way the spin-doctors have spun it, it is now 'official' that the commanding pilot was suicidal and turned off the fuel switch. Boeing, the plane maker, and General Electric, the engine maker, are blameless. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is, alas, not surprising. It is in the interests of Western MNCs to limit reputational damage and monetary loss related to their products. They do massive marketing by unleashing their PR agencies. We also saw how they protect themselves in other instances. A leaked Pfizer contract for their Covid vaccine insisted that if anything happened, it was the user's problem, not Pfizer's: there was no indemnity. Incidentally, a report on July 19 said that the Pfizer Covid vaccine can lead to severe vision problems. Oh, sorry, no indemnity. What is deplorable in the Air India case is that the AAIB, the Indian entity investigating the disaster, chose to release a half-baked preliminary report with enough ambiguity that a case could be (and definitely was) built up against the poor dead pilots. Any marketing person could have read the report and told them that it would be used to blame the pilots and absolve the manufacturers. Besides, the AAIB report was released late night on a Friday, India time, which meant that the Western media had all of one working day to do the spin-doctoring, which they did with remarkable gusto. Meanwhile, the Indian media slept. Whose decision was this? Clearly, Indian babus need a remedial course in public relations if this was mere incompetence. Of course, if it was intentional, that would be even worse. There is a pattern. In earlier air accidents, such as the Jeju Air crash involving a Boeing 737-800 in South Korea in December, the pilots were blamed. In accidents involving Lion Air (Boeing 737 Max 8, 2018), China Airlines (737-200, 1989), Flydubai (737-800, 2016), ditto. I am beginning to believe that a lot of Asian pilots are poorly trained and/or suicidal. Ditto with the F-35 that fell into the ocean off Japan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Truth by repeated assertion is a powerful force for gaslighting the gullible. I wonder what excuses we'll hear about the Delta Airlines Boeing 767 whose engine caught fire in the air after take-off from LAX on July 20. The pilots didn't die, so they will speak up. Besides, they were Westerners. I am eagerly awaiting the spin on this. I also noticed with grim amusement how the BBC, WSJ, Bloomberg, and Reuters, and so on were busy quoting each other to validate their assertions. This is a standard tactic that India's 'distorians' (see Utpal Kumar's powerful book Eminent Distorians) have perfected: B will quote third-hand hearsay from A, then C will quote B, D will quote C, and before you know it, the hearsay has become the truth. But if you wind it back from D to C to B to A it becomes, 'I hear someone told someone that xyz happened.' Out of thin air, then. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD There is also the lovely tactic of strategic silence. It has been used to un-person people who ask inconvenient questions. It has also been used to defenestrate inconvenient news. Just days ago, under the Deep State-installed new regime in Syria, hundreds of minority Druze were brutally massacred. There was video on X of armed men in uniform forcing Druze men to jump off tall buildings, and desecrating their shrines. Similarly, there is a brutal reign of terror, rape, murder, and thuggery against Hindus, Buddhists, and others under the Deep State-blessed regime of Mohammed Yunus in Bangladesh: a clear genocide. Neither Syria nor Bangladesh gets any headlines. There are no loud human-rights protests as in the case of Gaza. This is not news. It is un-news. 'Manufacturing Consent' all the way. India is particularly vulnerable to this gaslighting because Indians consume a lot of English-language 'news.' Scholars have long noted how the US public has been maintained in a state of ignorance so they could be easily manipulated. The same is true of the Indian middle class. So, there is yet another reason to do less in English. Fooling, say, the Chinese or Japanese public is a lot more difficult. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The fact is that even though Indians may be literate in English, they do not understand the context and the subtext of what is fed to them by the likes of The Economist, NPR, The Financial Times, The New York Times, etc. The best way I can explain this is the 100+5 analogy in the Mahabharata: they may fight with each other on domestic matters, but Anglosphere and Deep State are in cahoots when it comes to international matters. Things are both getting better and getting worse. On the one hand, social media and its imprint on generative AI mean that it is ever easier to propagate fake news (in addition to deepfake audio and video, of course). On the other hand, despite the problem of charlatans and paid agents provocateurs getting lots of eyeballs, the large number of Indians on social media may push back against the worst kinds of blood libel against India and Indians, of which there's plenty these days, often created by bots from 'friendly' countries. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is a serious matter indeed. One solution is to do a version of the Great Chinese Firewall and ban wholesale the worst offenders. Indeed, a few of the vilest handles have been ejected from X. However, the pusillanimity with which notorious Pakistani handles were unbanned, then re-banned after outrage, shows there's something rotten in the Information Ministry. Almost exactly the same as the unbanning of Pakistani cricketers, then rebanning after outrage. Is there anybody in charge? Information warfare is insidious. Going back to the Air India case, I think the families of the maligned pilots should sue for gigantic sums for libel and defamation. The sad state of the Indian judiciary may mean that, unfortunately, this will not go far. However, there is precedent: Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore used to terrorise villainous Western media by suing them in his courts. They learned to toe the line. If this tactic does not work, India should eject the hostile media. The Indian market is increasingly important to Western media (not vice versa) because soon there will be more English-reading consumers in India than in the Five Eyes Anglosphere. I should say that in quotes because as I said above, most Indians are blissfully unaware of the hidden agendas, and naively believe them. But 'Judeo-Christian' culture is very different from dharmic. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD I keep getting emails from The New York Times with tempting offers to subscribe to them for something really cheap like Rs. 25 a month. They need Indian readers. I have been shouting from the rooftops for years that one of these charlatan media houses needs to be kicked out, harshly, with 24 hours' notice to wind up and leave. As in the Asian proverb, 'Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.' The monkeys will notice, and behave. Otherwise, the information warfare is just going to get worse. The writer has been a conservative columnist for over 25 years. His academic interest is innovation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Air India warned over ‘systemic' safety lapses days after fatal Boeing crash
Air India has been warned by India 's aviation regulator that it could face enforcement action for breaching safety standards related to crew fatigue management and training, government notices to the airline showed. The airline self-reported the problems, which occurred this year and last year, to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last month, just days after one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners crashed in Ahmedabad city, killing 260 people Four government notices, dated July 23, criticised Air India for repeated failures in safety compliance and follow many other warnings in the past. Potential regulatory action could include fines or ordering that executives be removed from their jobs. They cite a combined 29 violations, including pilots not being given mandatory rest, poor compliance with simulator training requirements, lack of training for a high-altitude airport and flying on international routes with insufficient cabin crew. A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft in Ahmedabad, India, on June 13. Photo: Reuters 'Despite repeated warning and enforcement action of non-compliance in the past, systemic issues related to compliance monitoring, crew planning, and training governance remain unresolved,' one of the notices said.
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Business Standard
5 hours ago
- Business Standard
DGCA issues 4 show cause notices to Air India over safety, training lapses
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued four show cause notices to Air India for alleged violations related to flight safety, cabin crew duty hours, and training procedures, news agency PTI reported. The notices were served on July 23 following voluntary disclosures made by the airline on June 20 and 21. In response, an Air India spokesperson stated: 'We acknowledge receipt of these notices from the regulator related to certain voluntary disclosures that were made over the last one year by Air India. We will respond to the said notices within the stipulated period. We remain committed to the safety of our crew and passengers.' Violations span ultra-long-haul and domestic routes Three of the notices relate to breaches of crew rest and duty time rules on at least four ultra long-haul flights operated on April 27 (two flights), April 28, and May 2, 2024. Additional lapses were reported in training and operational procedures for flights conducted on July 26 and October 9, 2024, and April 22, 2025. The DGCA found that in these instances, established procedures were not followed, potentially compromising flight safety. Additional breaches flagged in 2024-25 operations One of the notices points to violations concerning weekly rest and flight duty periods on June 24, 2024, and June 13, 2025. Another is based on the June 21 disclosure, highlighting three cases of non-compliance in crew training and operational practices. These relate to flights flown between February 16 and May 19, April 10–11, and December 1, 2024. Ongoing scrutiny after deadly crash Air India has been under intense regulatory watch following the deadly crash of a Boeing 787-8 on June 12. The aircraft crashed into a building shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad en route to London Gatwick, killing 260 people, including 19 on the ground. Checks complete on Boeing aircraft systems Air India said Tuesday it had completed precautionary checks on the fuel control switch locking mechanisms across its Boeing 787 and 737 fleet. The DGCA had mandated the inspections after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found that the switches had unexpectedly moved from 'run' to 'cutoff', causing the crash. No faults were discovered during these inspections, which had to be submitted to the DGCA by July 21. $200 million loan for Boeing 777 acquisition The airline is in talks to secure a loan of around $200 million to acquire a fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft from a US-based leasing firm, Bloomberg reported. The loan would be taken through AI Fleet Services IFSC Ltd, a GIFT City-registered unit of the airline. The fundraising discussions had slowed after the June crash but have now resumed. However, the loan details are still being finalised. The aircraft purchase comes at a time when the airline is trying to grow its fleet despite facing delays due to global supply chain issues.
1News
13 hours ago
- General
- 1News
Air India says no issues in fuel control switches in Boeing fleet
Air India said yesterday that preliminary inspections found no issues in the locking mechanism of fuel control switches for select Boeing aircrafts. The announcement followed a preliminary investigation into last month's Air India plane crash that the switches shifted and flipped within seconds, starving both engines of fuel. Air India operates a fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners for long-distance operations, while subsidiary and low-cost unit Air India Express operates the Boeing 737 jets for short-haul flights. The airline inspected its entire fleet of both types of aircraft. "In the inspections, no issues were found with the said locking mechanism," the airline's statement said. The investigation by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau into the London-bound plane that crashed in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 260 people, is centred around the fuel control switches on the Boeing 787 jetliner. One person survived the crash. ADVERTISEMENT Last week, India's aviation regulator ordered all airlines operating several Boeing models to examine fuel control switches and submit their findings to the regulator by July 21. A member of the National Disaster Response Force is seen at Thursday's Air India plane crash site in Ahmedabad, India. (Source: Associated Press) Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet, and Air India Express operates 75 Boeing 737 jets. In the past few weeks, the airline has faced disruptions in services amid heightened scrutiny and additional safety inspections, leading to flight delays, cancellations and growing passenger anxiety. On Monday, an Air India Airbus 320 flight veered off the runway as it landed during heavy rainfall at Mumbai International Airport, partially damaging the underside of one of the plane's engines and leading to a temporary runway closure. The flight had flown from Kochi in the southern state of Kerala. The airline said in a statement that all passengers and crew members disembarked safely and the aircraft was grounded for checks. In another incident, an Air India flight from Hong Kong had a fire in its auxiliary power unit yesterday while passengers were exiting the aircraft after it landed in New Delhi. ADVERTISEMENT 'The auxiliary power unit was automatically shut down as per system design. There was some damage to the aircraft, however, passengers and crew members disembarked normally, and are safe,' the airline said. Its statement added the aircraft was grounded for investigation and the aviation safety regulator notified. Onlookers watch wreckage from Thursday's Air India plane crash lying atop a building in Ahmedabad, India (Source: Associated Press) Indian conglomerate Tata Sons took over Air India in 2022, returning the debt-saddled national carrier to private ownership after decades of government control. The US$2.4 billion (NZ$4 billion) deal was seen as the government's effort to sell off a loss-making, state-run businesses. It also was in some ways a homecoming for Air India, which was launched by the Tata family in 1932. Since the takeover, Air India has ordered hundreds of new planes worth more than US$70 billion (NZ$116.4 billion), redesigned its branding and livery and absorbed smaller airlines that Tata held stakes in. The company additionally has committed millions of dollars to digital overhauls of aircrafts and refurbishing interiors of more than five dozen legacy planes.
ABC News
16 hours ago
- General
- ABC News
British lawyer says families received wrong remains of Air India crash victims
Relatives of a British victim killed in last month's Air India crash received a casket that contained mixed remains, a lawyer representing several families says. The family of a separate victim received the remains of another person, according to James Healy-Pratt, who is representing 20 British families who lost loved ones in the disaster. A total of 241 people on board the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner died when the plane crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad in western India on June 12. The toll included 169 Indian passengers and 52 British nationals. Several people on the ground also died while only one passenger, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash. Mr Healy-Pratt told the Press Association news agency that the return of victims' remains had been marred by serious errors, which had been identified following a probe by a British coroner. "In the first two caskets that were repatriated, in one of the caskets, there was co-mingling of DNA which did not relate to the deceased in that casket or the casket that accompanied it," he said. The lawyer added the coroner was then "able to determine that one particular loved one was not at all who the family thought they were". Miten Patel, whose mother, Shobhana Patel, died along with her husband in the disaster, told the BBC that "other remains" were found in her casket after her body was returned to Britain. "People were tired and there was a lot of pressure. But there has to be a level of responsibility that you're sending the right bodies to the UK," he told the BBC. The Daily Mail newspaper first reported two cases in which the wrong remains were apparently returned to families in Britain. India's foreign ministry said all remains "were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased". "We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue," the statement added. AFP
