Ahmedabad plane crash: Boeing top official meets Tata Sons chairman Chandrasekaran; days after Air India mishap

NEW DELHI: A meeting took place between Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and Boeing top official Stephanie Pope at the Air India headquarters in Gurugram on Monday.Specific details of the meeting were not known, a source said, adding that the discussions were centred around last week's deadly crash of an Air India flight in Ahmedabad.

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.Air India is owned by the Tata Group.A Boeing spokesperson declined to comment on the meeting between Pope - the US aircraft major's head of commercial airplanes - and Chandrasekaran."We are not going to comment on that. As we have said, our thoughts are with the loved ones of all those affected by Air India Flight 171. We are focused on supporting the investigation and our customer," the Boeing spokesperson told news agency PTI.Meanwhile, during his visit to the Air India headquarters and training academy, Chandrasekaran addressed the Air India leadership team and hundreds of employees in the wake of the June 12 crash."I have seen a reasonable number of crises in my career, but this is the most heart-breaking one which I never thought I would see," sources quoted him as saying.He also urged the employees to show "resilience" and to consider the tragic incident as "an act of force" to build a "safer airline."

Over 270 people were killed in the crash, which occurred shortly after the London-bound flight left Ahmedabad. The plane with 242 passengers and crew crashed into a medical college complex less than a minute after take-off. The aircraft took off at 1:39 pm and began sinking seconds later after reaching a height of about 650 feet. At 1:39 pm, the pilot sent a May Day call to the Ahmedabad ATC.There was only one survivor - a British national of Indian-origin.