In a big development, the father late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who was the main pilot of the Air India plane that crashed near the Ahmedabad airport in June, has moved the Supreme Court for a court monitored probe into the accident. In his plea, he has urged for a probe under the monitoring of a retired judge.
He said that the investigation team appeared to “predominantly focus on the deceased pilots … while failing to examine or eliminate other more plausible technical and procedural causes,” reported news agency citing one of the sources.
He said two officials fromAircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), who visited him had implied that his son cut the fuel to the plane’s engine after take-off. The government has denied such accusations, calling the investigation “very clean” and “very thorough”.
What has the father of pilot said?
In his plea in the top court, In his submission on October 11, the father told the court the investigation team appeared to “predominantly focus on the deceased pilots” and did not examine the other possible technical errors.
He also asked for the government investigation to be closed and it be handed over to a new panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge that includes aviation experts, two sources told Reuters.
The case has not been teen taken by the top court, but the website showed the plea had been filed jointly by the father and the Federation of Indian Pilots against the government.
A preliminary AAIB report in July, a month afer the accident, showed the Boeing Dreamliner‘s fuel engine switches had almost simultaneously flipped from run to cutoff just after takeoff.
The cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots supported the view that Captain Sabharwal had cut the flow of fuel to the engines.
Air India crash
In June this year, Air India AI-171 plane crashed near Ahmedabad airport killing 260 people. All the passengers, except for one, died in the tragic crash. The plane had fallen on a medical college, killing several students as house. The Central government initiated a probe into the incident, and the prelim report hinted at pilot’s errors.
The Supreme court had also expressed concern over the probe. However, a detailed report on the incident is pending.