“No One Believes Pilot Was at Fault”: SC on Air India Crash

• Supreme Court tells late pilot’s father not to carry guilt over the June Air India crash in Ahmedabad.
• Notices issued to Centre, DGCA and AAIB; next hearing on November 10.
• Court dismisses foreign media claims, calls for fair, independent investigation.
• Petitioners allege lack of autonomy in AAIB probe and seek judicial inquiry.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 7th Nov: The Supreme Court on Friday came to the defence of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot-in-command of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad in June, killing 260 people. The court told the pilot’s father that “no one in India believes it was the pilot’s fault.”

Hearing a petition filed by Pushkaraj Sabharwal, father of the late pilot, Justice Surya Kant said, “This crash was extremely unfortunate, but you should not carry this burden that your son is being blamed.” The judge observed that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)’s preliminary report contained “no insinuation” against the pilot.

The bench issued notices to the Centre, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and the AAIB, seeking their responses on the ongoing investigation.

When the petitioner’s lawyer referred to a Wall Street Journal article suggesting pilot error, Justice Kant dismissed the claim, remarking, “We are not bothered by foreign reports. Your remedy should then be before a foreign court? It’s just nasty reporting.”

Counsel Gopal Shankaranarayan argued for an independent judicial probe, saying the AAIB investigation lacked transparency and independence. He also pointed out recurring safety concerns with Boeing aircraft globally.

The AAIB’s preliminary report, released in July, said both engines lost power after fuel control switches were accidentally moved to the “cutoff” position shortly after takeoff. The switches were restored within seconds, but the engines failed to recover, leading to the crash. The report did not rule out technical malfunction and confirmed that aviation medicine and psychology experts were involved in the probe.

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said on October 30 that while the report found no fault with the airline’s operations, it continues to review and strengthen internal systems. “Anything that happens in the industry, whether that’s us or others, is a cause for introspection,” he said at the Aviation India 2025 Summit in Delhi.

The Supreme Court will take up the case again on November 10, along with a similar petition filed by the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) seeking an independent investigation into the Dreamliner crash.