Air India Boeing 787 Had Tech Issues Before Crash, Passenger Footage Reveals

Air India Boeing 787 Had Tech Issues Before Crash, Passenger Footage Reveals

Just hours before Air India Flight AI171 crashed, killing nearly everyone on board, a passenger recorded shocking tech failures inside the same aircraft during its earlier flight — and now the footage is going viral.

Akash Vatsa, who flew from Delhi to Ahmedabad on the very same Boeing 787 Dreamliner (tail number VT-ANB), uploaded a video to X (formerly Twitter) showing a complete tech meltdown in the cabin. Think dead touchscreens, broken call buttons, and a cabin so hot it felt like a sauna. The video, posted just two hours before the doomed takeoff, now feels like a haunting prelude to disaster.

I was in the same damn flight 2 hours before it took off from AMD. I came in this from DEL-AMD. Noticed unusual things in the place.Made a video to tweet to @airindia i would want to give more details. Please contact me. @flyingbeast320 @aajtak @ndtv @Boeing_In #planecrash #AI171 pic.twitter.com/TymtFSFqJo

— Akash Vatsa  (@akku92) June 12, 2025

“It was absolutely chaotic,” Vatsa told The Sun, confirming he was onboard the penultimate flight. “The AC wasn’t working, none of the screens worked, the reading lights didn’t work, call bells didn’t function.” His footage even showed overhead panels dangling and fittings out of place — all while cabin crew calmly handed out water and apologized for the mess.

He added on X: “I could sense something was wrong. We were sweating, and nothing worked. Nobody expected what would happen next.”

Flight AI171 took off from Ahmedabad around 1:30 PM local time, bound for London Gatwick. Minutes into the climb, it issued a MAYDAY call. The aircraft, with 242 people onboard, crashed into a medical college hostel just 3 kilometers from the runway. Only one passenger survived.

The death toll has now risen to more than 265, including people on the ground — making it India’s worst aviation disaster in decades.

Investigators are now digging into the Dreamliner’s maintenance records, and Akash Vatsa’s footage could play a key role. The plane was just hours out of service, yet showing major technical issues that some say should’ve grounded it.

Aviation expert Mark Dombroff told BBC News: “If verified, that footage raises serious red flags. No aircraft with multiple system failures should be cleared for a long-haul international flight.”

Meanwhile, Boeing is facing a fresh storm. This is the first-ever fatal crash of a 787 Dreamliner — and it comes amid a string of safety concerns plaguing the aircraft giant.

Air India has not publicly commented on Vatsa’s footage yet, but they’ve pledged full cooperation with investigators. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also begun a deep-dive audit into the airline’s maintenance procedures.

For Vatsa, the experience is unforgettable — and grim. “I never thought my short domestic flight would be linked to something so tragic,” he wrote in a follow-up post. “It’s heartbreaking.”

With the black boxes recovered and analysis underway, investigators will now try to answer the chilling question: Did this aircraft give out clear warnings — and were they ignored?