Mumbai: The 91-year-old father of late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal on Thursday approached the Supreme Court demanding a judicial probe into the Ahmedabad Air India crash that took place on June 12 this year. Pushkar Raj Sabharwal and Federation of Indian Pilots filed a plea for an independent probe by a committee of aviation experts headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.
The plea, filed on October 10, also reportedly demanded that the current probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) should be closed. In the plea, Prakash termed the government inquiry "incomplete and prejudiced".
"An incomplete and prejudiced inquiry, without identification of the exact cause of the accident, endangers the lives of future passengers and undermines aviation safety at large, causing a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the plea stated as reported by News18.
The petitioners said that the AAIB report wrongly put the blame for the crash on the pilots.
The plea also highlighted loopholes in the AAIB probe, including no explanation as to why RAT was deployed moments before the crash, systemic electrical collapse, and switch movement that led to the fuel cut.
The top court is yet to list the petition for hearing.
Last month, the apex court termed the reports claiming that pilots deliberately cut-off fuel as "unfortunate" and "irresponsible". The SC made the observation while hearing a petition seeking an independent investigation into the tragedy.
Last month, the apex court termed the reports claiming that pilots deliberately cut-off fuel as "unfortunate" and "irresponsible". The SC made the observation while hearing a petition seeking an independent investigation into the tragedy.
Here's What AAIB's Report Had Said?
Days after the deadly crash, the AAIB in its report mentioned that both switches feeding fuel to the two engines of Air India flight 171 were cut off, seconds after taking off.
"The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC, and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec," the had report said.
The London-bound Air India flight, AI 171, crashed on June 12 just seconds after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport in Ahmedabad. At the time of the incident, there were 242 people onboard the plane, including 12 crew members. Only one passenger survived the crash.
The flight was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder.
The plane crashed into the hostel of BJ Medical College campus and burst into a ball of fire. Over 275, including the people on the ground, were killed in the crash.
