When Both Engines Fail: In Ahmedabad And Across The World
By Gajanan Khergamker
When the Boeing 787 Dreamliner plunged into the dense urban cluster of Meghani Nagar, Ahmedabad, it wasn’t merely a case of technical failure—it was a chilling reminder that sometimes, despite the best technology, training and systems, the odds simply conspire against survival.
Preliminary investigations suggest that both engines of the aircraft failed mid-air—an extremely rare event in modern aviation. But history, as it turns out, has recorded several such instances before, where a twin-engine failure resulted in catastrophic or near-catastrophic outcomes. Some survived. Many didn’t. Ahmedabad, sadly, falls into the latter category.
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| The US Airways Flight 1549 landed on Hudson River in New York |
The harrowing episode brings to mind Air Canada Flight 143, infamously known as the Gimli Glider. In July 1983, a Boeing 767 ran out of fuel due to a metric-imperial conversion error and lost both engines. The pilots glided the aircraft to an abandoned airstrip, with no fatalities. It was hailed as a miracle—a perfect blend of skill, luck, and circumstance.
Then, in January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia, causing both engines of the Airbus A320 to fail. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger managed to ditch the aircraft safely into the Hudson River. All 155 souls onboard survived. Again, the event is now immortalised as the Miracle on the Hudson.
But such miracles are rare.
Contrast these with the horror of Air France Flight 447, which stalled and crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 after both engines ceased to function during a storm. Reportedly, it was due to a stall from pilot error after instrument malfunction. All 228 onboard perished. Similarly, the 2014 crash of TransAsia Airways Flight 235 in Taipei saw both engines fail—one due to flameout and the other mistakenly shut down by the pilot. The aircraft clipped a bridge before plunging into a river, killing 43 of the 58 passengers and crew.
In the Ahmedabad tragedy, early reports suggest a bird strike or sudden fuel contamination may have played a role, though this awaits confirmation. What is known, however, is that the aircraft lost both engines almost simultaneously—a dreaded scenario pilots train extensively for, but one that remains nightmarishly difficult to manage, especially over densely populated terrain.
What complicates such cases is not just engine failure, but altitude, urban proximity, weather conditions, and speed. In Sully’s case, the Hudson was within gliding range. In Ahmedabad, there was no open space large enough. No river. No abandoned airfield. No miracle.
It’s also a grim statistical anomaly. Modern jetliners are designed with redundancy; the probability of both engines failing is astronomically low. But just as lightning can strike twice, mechanical probability doesn’t always account for environmental chaos or unpredictable variables.
The Dreamliner is, by design, among the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world. Twin General Electric GEnx engines power it with precision. But even the best hardware is not infallible—especially when faced with the worst of possibilities.
The tragedy also underlines an uncomfortable truth: emergency preparedness in urban India remains limited. From the time of impact to fire control to civilian rescue efforts, the response—while earnest—was chaotic, highlighting infrastructural and procedural gaps. Survivability in such crashes doesn’t end with touchdown; it hinges on immediate medical attention, evacuation speed, and systemic coordination.
What makes the Ahmedabad crash particularly poignant is its eerie echo of another local aviation disaster decades ago—Chiloda, 1988—when an aircraft went down under similarly tragic circumstances. That two such catastrophes bookend the city’s aviation history, almost four decades apart, is not just cruel coincidence. It’s a clarion call for re-evaluating how we assess flight paths over urban areas, bolster engine certification protocols, and fine-tune crisis response units at airports nationwide.
In the end, the Ahmedabad crash was not a failure of just machine or man—it was a convergence of failure and fate. Where Air Canada 143 had altitude, the Hudson jet had water, and Taipei had seconds to spare, this Dreamliner had none of it. No glide time. No soft landing. No miracle.
Aviation history may well go on to record this crash as one of those tragic outliers—where two engines failed, and the odds simply offered no mercy.
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