AI 171 crash: Pilot’s aged father moves SC seeking independent probe; terms preliminary report ‘profoundly flawed’

NEW DELHI: Aggrieved by the preliminary inquiry into the June 12 AI 171 Ahmedabad crash which indirectly put the blame on the pilot, the father of the in command of that flight and the (FIP) have moved Supreme Court.

Their plea: The apex court order an independent investigation by a panel of aviation experts headed by a retired Supreme Court judge that takes into account all possible causes that could have led to the crash. Pushkaraj Sabharwal, 91, and FIP have contended that the preliminary investigation into the crash is "profoundly flawed”. And they say the probe team is predominantly focusing on the pilots, who can no longer defend themselves.

Pushkaraj Sabharwal had earlier written to aviation authorities also to express his anger at the preliminary report of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) had “tarnished” his son Captain Sumeet Sabharwal's reputation. First leaks in the US media and then the AAIB report released within a month of the probe had, some directly & others indirectly, blamed a pilot for switching off the engines’ fuel supply. Government, on its part, says the investigation is fair and unbiased.

The plea in Supreme Court says: “The current approach of the investigation has resulted in a failure to adequately examine, or rule out, other more plausible technical and procedural factors… The petitioners emphasise that factual misdirection through selective disclosure, especially against crew who cannot defend themselves, impedes root cause discovery and threatens future flight safety-calling for a neutral judicial lens.”

Questioning the composition of the five-member probe panel, it says: “The team is dominated by officers from DGCA, the State aviation authorities whose procedures, oversight, and possible lapses are directly implicated in the investigation. Moreover, the officers are placed under the control of the DG, AAIB, thereby creating a situation where the very entities responsible for regulating and overseeing civil aviation are effectively investigating themselves.”

The pilots’ union have long questioned the AAIB preliminary report which, they sources there say, “has rushed to give a clean chit to Boeing and blaming a dead pilot who can no longer defend himself.”
Pushkaraj Sabharwal’s plea says as much. The AAIB investigation team appeared to "predominantly focus on the deceased pilots ... while failing to examine or eliminate other more plausible technical and procedural causes.” He and FIP, which has about 5,000 members, have sought the current probe be stopped and a new panel of aviation experts headed by a retired Supreme Court judge conduct the investigation.

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