Air India planes just don’t have an easy time getting decommissioned. Several years ago they tried to move an old Airbus A320 to a training facility and decided to use a crane that apparently couldn’t withstand the weight of an aircraft.

It seems Air India had never done this before. They discovered for the first time in real world conditions that the 200 ton crane they had selected for the job wasn’t suitable for moving a 70 ton aircraft. The crane’s arm snapped.

Dramatic pics: Crane carrying Air India plane crashes in Hyderabad https://t.co/ATvBvQp5G3 pic.twitter.com/55v7DOJDG2

— NDTV (@ndtv) April 10, 2016

Then in 2021 a retired Air India Airbus A320 got stuck under a bridge at the Delhi-Gurugram highway near the Delhi airport. Traffic backed up behind the stuck aircraft.

#WATCH An @airindiain plane ✈️ (not in service) got stuck under foot over bridge. Can anyone confirm the date and location?
The competition starts now pic.twitter.com/pukB0VmsW3

— Ashoke Raj (@Ashoke_Raj) October 3, 2021

Fast forward to Friday and the same thing happened again. And to another Airbus A320. (HT: Enilria)

The fuselage of a retired Airbus A320 got stuck under a bridge in the Eastern Indian city of Motihari while heading to Mumbai. People gathered near the bridge to watch the precariously perched plane while several tried to figure out how to get it unlodged and vehicles backed up along the highway.

Video: Plane Gets Stuck Under Bridge In Bihar, Causes Massive Traffic Jam https://t.co/4VnGV0OPg5 pic.twitter.com/fk7RkrR41w

— NDTV (@ndtv) December 30, 2023

If a single Airbus A320 was misjudged by a single truck driver or crane operator, acting alone, we could chalk that up to that’s what insurance is for. But these aren’t – or at least shouldn’t be – operations planned by a single individual. Even a 34 year old narrowbody aircraft fuselage headed to the boneyard is worth measuring for height, and checking the heights of bridges along the planned route before ploughing ahead.