 "Wreckage of the Air India plane that crashed moments after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, lies on a building, in Ahmedabad. File image/PTI")
Four months after the tragic crash of Air India Flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad, which claimed 260 lives, the father of the deceased pilot-in-command, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal , has moved the Supreme Court, seeking a judicially monitored investigation into the tragedy.
Pushkaraj Sabharwal (88), joined by the Federation of Indian Pilots, filed a petition contending that the preliminary probe by the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Board (AAIB) is “profoundly flawed” and lacks credibility .
The core of the petitioners’ grievance centres on the investigation’s focus, which they argue has been unfairly directed at the deceased flight crew, who are unable to defend themselves. The preliminary AAIB report had previously suggested human error was a contributing factor, citing cockpit audio that pointed toward a possible fuel cut-off incident.
The petition alleges that this approach has resulted in a “failure to adequately examine, or rule out, other more plausible technical and procedural factors.”
Additionally, the petitioners have raised serious concerns over the composition of the five-member investigation team.
They argue that the team is “dominated by officers from DGCA,” the very state aviation authority whose procedures, oversight, and potential lapses are implicated in the disaster. This structure, the plea states, violates the fundamental principle of natural justice, creating a clear conflict of interest where regulators are effectively investigating themselves.
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Highlighting his son’s career, Pushkaraj Sabharwal noted Captain Sabharwal’s “unblemished career spanning over 30 years, with 15,638 hours of incident-free flying.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe AI-171, an Air India flight travelling from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed on June 12, killing all 12 crew members, 229 of the 230 passengers, and 19 people on the ground as the aircraft hit a medical college hostel.
To ensure a “thorough, transparent, and credible determination of the true causes,” the petition demands the formation of a judicially monitored committee, to be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and staffed with independent aviation experts, free from the influence of regulatory bodies.
The move follows a previous observation by the Supreme Court, which described the premature ‘pilot error’ narrative as “unfortunate” during an earlier hearing on the crash.