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Vijay Rupani visited Boeing 737 cockpit two months before death in Dreamliner crash

Describing his experience, Rupani had written on social media: "Saw the working of the Boeing 737, Cessna, Zenith and Mig21 through their models and real ones at the Institute of Aeronautics."

A poster put near Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad on Monday to give tribute to Late Former CM Vijay Rupani by Bhartiya Janta Party. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

A poster near Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad to give tribute to former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, who died in the Ahmedabad plane crash. (Express file photo by Bhupendra Rana)

Just two months before his death in the fatal crash of Air India flight AI 171 in Ahmedabad, former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was inside the cockpit of another passenger aircraft trying to understand its functioning.

He made the visit on April 8 on the sidelines of a speech he delivered on ‘One Nation, One Election’ at the Indus University located near Rancharda village on Ahmedabad’s outskirts.

Rupani, following the speech, was given a tour of the Indus University and the Western India Institute of Aeronautics (WIIA), which are in the same campus. There, in the parking lot, lying among two-wheelers and four-wheelers, was a slightly bigger vehicle — a decommissioned Boeing 737-200 aircraft. Like the Dreamliner which crashed two months later, this aircraft was also manufactured by Boeing and had been flown by Air India before being grounded and retired some years back. It has been kept here for practical training purposes of students of aeronautical engineering.

Describing his experience, Rupani had written on social media: “Saw the working of the Boeing 737, Cessna, Zenith and Mig21 through their models and real ones at the Institute of Aeronautics.”

He had also interacted with the students.

Rupani was among the 241 people who died on June 12 when the AI 171 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into BJ Medical College’s boys hostel less than a minute after take-off. He was headed to London as his daughter Radhika is based there.

Shailesh Mandaliya, Rupani’s longtime assistant, also confirmed his visit to the university and to the aircraft during his lecture in April.

Captain Umang Jani, who is a faculty member at the university, had shown Rupani around. He told The Indian Express, “Rupaniji visited the aircraft and we showed him the cockpit. He was very curious and asked us how the aircraft works. I tried to explain and answer his queries regarding the aircraft, the various controls in the cockpit and the functioning of the airliner.”

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Photos of the visit, shared on the former CM’s social media pages, show him seated in the First Officer’s seat, while Jani can be seen seated in the Captain’s seat to his left. Behind them is Radhika Bhandari, Dean of Aviation at Indus University.

Jani, who is an aeronautical engineer and a commercial pilot, said, “He (Rupani) looked at the front and overhead panels and to a common man, the whole system looks highly complex. So he asked about the controls, instruments as well as the backup systems. We explained in layman’s terms.”

Brendan Dabhi

Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters. Expertise Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance. His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat. Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (. He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border. Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad. Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage. ... Read More

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