New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said that the pilot-in-command of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner could not be blamed for the crash in Gujarat's Ahmedabad in June this year. The oral observation was made by a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi while hearing a petition filed by Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, the father of Commander Sumeet Sabharwal. Notably, Sumeet was one of the pilots of the ill-fated plane.
The bench also issued notice to the Centre and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on his plea. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the pilot's father, Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, said there was a news article in a US publication, the Wall Street Journal, with regard to the pilot, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal.
"It was nasty reporting only to blame India," the bench responded.
The matter will now be heard on November 10, along with other petitions.
Pushkar Raj Filed Plea IN The Supreme Court On October 10:
Last month, Pushkar Raj approached the Supreme Court demanding a judicial probe into the Ahmedabad Air India crash. 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 had stated as reported by News18.
In September, 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.
What AAIB Said In Its Report:
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 report had said.
The London-bound Air India flight, AI 171, crashed into a hostel over a medical college 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. Meanwhile, several people on the ground were also killed.
The flight was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder.
