A pair of aviation engineers from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India believe they have developed a design that could help prevent similar crashes—a design that involves massive, AI-controlled external airbags. Called Project REBIRTH, the multi-layered safety system would retrofit aircraft with a suite of sensors that constantly monitor flight conditions. If the system determines a crash below 3,000 feet is unavoidable, giant airbags would deploy, forming a protective cocoon designed to absorb impact energy and reduce damage. If a pilot override doesn’t occur, massive airbags deploy from the nose, belly, and tail of the aircraft. The airbags themselves would also need to be enormous to meaningfully reduce the impact forces of a commercial aircraft weighing over 600,000 pounds.