Beyond black box: Air India crash was imminent. Safety lapses, unheeded warnings raise questions.

Although Air India Express is operationally a separate airline, it remains a fully owned subsidiary of Air India, and the safety policies of the airline comes under the corporate safety policy of the mother airline. Air India’s brush with mishaps seems to be unending. Last week, another flight crashed, bringing back the chilling memories of the Mangaluru accident of 2010. The question is: could the disaster have been averted? An exclusive investigation reveals that warnings issued on serious lapses in safety standards to Air India’s top brass and aviation authorities were overlooked.