No one can blame the pilot in command of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the crash in Ahmedabad in June that killed 260 people, the Supreme Court told the pilot’s father today and sent notices to the Centre and the civil aviation regulator DGCA.
The order followed a petition by Pushkaraj Sabharwal, whose son Sumeet Sabharwal was the pilot in command of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) also filed a petition with a similar request.
Supreme Court to 91 year old father to not carry burden on yourself
Justice Surya Kant, who heard the petition today, told the father, “This crash extremely unfortunate, but you not carry this burden that your son is blamed.”
“No one in India believes it was the pilot’s fault. There’s no insinuation against the pilot in the preliminary report. One pilot asked whether the fuel cut off by the other; the other said no,” Justice Kant stated.
The petitioners approached the Supreme Court after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released a preliminary report in July that said fuel supply to both engines cut off shortly after takeoff.
What technical problem behind crash?
Gopal Shankaranarayan, the lawyer for the pilot’s father, informed the Supreme Court that an independent judicial committee should investigate the Dreamliner crash because the AAIB probe was not independent.
“There’s a problem with Boeing aircraft around the world,” he said, adding that a investigation necessary since the Dreamliner involved in an accident, not an incident.
After sending notices to the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Supreme Court mentioned that another similar petition received. It will take up both cases on November 10.
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