Dubai students propose crash-resistant airplane design with giant airbags

A bizarre idea of making airplanes crash-resistant with airbags has been presented at this year’s James Dyson Award by two engineering students from Dubai.

The two tech enthusiasts named Eshal Wasim and Dharsan Srinivasan from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Dubai campus, revealed that the idea stems from the Air India tragedy.

An Air India plane crashed just after 32 seconds of taking off and resulted in the deaths of around 260 people on June 12, 2025.

Eshel said, “The helplessness of the passengers who died in the Air India crash haunted us. My mothers could not sleep for days.”

The proposed concept plans to use artificial intelligence to detect a crash before it occurs and activate smart airbags that wrap around the nose, belly and tail of the aircraft, impact absorbing fluids and reverse thrust mid-air.

The tech whizzes hope to turn potentially fatal crashes into survivable landings. The duo submitted the idea in a bid to secure funding to convert their idea into a reality.

The idea named Project Rebirth would use AI to monitor engine speed, altitude, direction, fire and pilot response to determine if airbags need to be inflated.

James Dyson Awards offer a prize of £30,000 to the best project idea, with the global winner to be announced later in 2025.