Supreme Court to Hear Petitions Challenging Probe Into Air India AI171 Crash on Nov 7
Pilot's father seeks judicial panel to expose hidden truths.
The Supreme Court of India is set to examine urgent writ petitions on November 7, challenging the official investigation into the catastrophic Air India Flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, which claimed 265 lives, including 241 passengers and crew plus 19 on the ground. A two-judge bench led by Justice Surya Kant will hear arguments from Pushkaraj Sabharwal, the 88-year-old father of deceased Pilot-in-Command Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, and the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), who demand a court-supervised probe to rectify what they call a deeply biased and incomplete inquiry.
The 267-page petition, filed on October 10 against the Union of India, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), accuses the preliminary report—released on July 12—of pinning the blame on "human error" by the cockpit crew without scrutinizing potential mechanical failures. As the first media outlet to report the move on October 16, TNIE highlighted the petitioners' call for a neutral committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, bolstered by independent aviation experts, to conduct a transparent and technically rigorous review that the deceased pilots can no longer influence.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plummeted into a medical college hostel shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, en route to London Gatwick, marking one of India's deadliest aviation disasters in decades. The AAIB's findings, which suggested the fuel control switches were manually shifted to cutoff during takeoff, drew fierce backlash from pilot unions and grieving families for its "selective disclosure" that unfairly targeted the crew. Petitioners argue this approach not only tarnishes the pilots' legacies but also jeopardizes broader aviation safety by overlooking systemic issues.
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Critics of the report point to glaring inconsistencies, such as the premature deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT)—a backup power system—indicating an electrical or digital glitch in the Common Core System (CCS) that integrates flight controls and avionics, rather than crew mishandling. The petition contends that the near-simultaneous movement of both fuel switches within one second under high-stress takeoff conditions is "implausible" for human action and more likely an automated or corrupted command, urging the court to reverse the causation narrative that blames symptoms of failure on the pilots themselves.
This hearing builds on the Supreme Court's earlier September 22 rebuke of "irresponsible" media leaks attributing pilot error prematurely, where it sought responses from authorities on a related PIL. As the pleas underscore the need for an impartial "judicial lens" to uncover root causes, the outcome could redefine accountability in Indian aviation probes, offering closure to families and preventing future tragedies amid growing calls for robust, unbiased investigations.
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