Centre Tells SC That AI Pilot Not At Fault

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that deceased Air India pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal has not been blamed in the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report on the June 12 Boeing 787-8 crash in Ahmedabad that claimed 260 lives.

Air India flight AI171, bound for London’s Gatwick airport, was being operated by pilot-in-command Captain Sabharwal and co-pilot Captain Clive Kunder when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad. The horrific incident killed 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew members.

The Supreme Court had earlier issued notices to the Centre and the Director General of Civil Aviation on a plea filed by Pushkaraj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sabharwal.

Pushkaraj Sabharwal and the Federation of Indian Pilots approached the court seeking a court-monitored inquiry, headed by a former Supreme Court judge, into the crash.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the AAIB’s probe team was constituted under an international framework and statutory provisions.

“There is an international convention. There is an international civil aviation organisation. They have prescribed mandatory steps to be followed in air crash investigations. There is a regime in place. Some foreign nationals are also victims, and those countries send representatives. I understand the father’s feelings, but no blame has been attributed to anyone in the interim report,” Mehta said.

He added that the preliminary AAIB report does not assign blame to any individual and that misconceptions arose regarding pilot error after the interim findings were released.

“The Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a press note stating that blame is not attributable to anyone. There is no question of blaming anyone in the report,” Mehta submitted.

Justice Bagchi noted, “The AAIB inquiry is not meant to apportion blame. It is only to determine the cause so that such incidents are not repeated.”

The court was hearing three petitions filed by an NGO, a law student, and the pilot’s father seeking an independent, court-monitored probe into the crash.

On November 7, the Supreme Court had assured the grieving father that no one had blamed the Air India Dreamliner’s chief pilot for the June 12 crash and asked the 91-year-old not to carry any emotional burden.

“There is no insinuation against him even in the preliminary report,” the court had said, adding that it would clarify, if necessary, that the pilot was not responsible for the “unfortunate” crash.