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New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) The family of late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot-in-command of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking the formation of a judicially monitored independent committee led by a retired top court judge to investigate the incident, in which more than 260 people lost their lives.
The plea alleged that the investigation ordered by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is “flawed and suffers from serious weaknesses and distortions”.
The preliminary report released on June 15 blamed the crash on “pilot error, while ignoring other obvious and plausible systemic causes”.
It added, “The report hastily attributes the incident to pilot error without any corroborating evidence or comprehensive technical analysis, thereby undermining both the integrity of the investigation and the memory of the deceased crew.”
The petition said Captain Sabharwal had an “unblemished career of over 30 years” in which he flew more than 15,600 hours of incident-free flying, including 8,596 hours on the Boeing 787.
The petition raised questions over the unexplained deployment of an emergency device, the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), at the time of take-off before any input from the crew.
“This premature activation is a direct indicator of an electrical or digital malfunction,” the petition says, adding that the investigation “ignored the possibility that the sequence of failures could have been triggered by a malfunction in the Common Core System (CCS) that integrates the avionics, flight controls, power distribution, and software.”
Citing nemo judex in causa sua (no one should be a judge in his own case), the petition said the investigation team is dominated by officials from the same aviation authorities whose systems are under scrutiny, such as DGCA and AAIB.
The petition alleged, “Annex 13 (section 3.2 of the Chicago Convention) states that the investigating authority must be independent of state aviation authorities or any entity that might interfere with the investigation. The present team, consisting primarily of state aviation authorities and manufacturer representatives, clearly violates this requirement of independence.”
The petition also questioned the selective and unauthorized leak of cockpit voice recordings (CVRs) in the public domain, calling it an act of defaming deceased pilots without evidence, tantamount to state-supported defamation and mental cruelty towards their families.
“These selective leaks have fueled a malicious media campaign, resulting in defamation of the character of late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal,” the petition said.
It further alleged that falsehoods suggesting suicidal intentions were circulated, thereby violating his fundamental right to dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The petition questioned the investigation’s failure to account for prior incidents involving Boeing 787 aircraft, including the JAL battery fire (2013), ANA electrical failure (2013), and LATAM in-flight disturbance (2024).
“The investigator’s failure to engage with this historical pattern reflects a deliberate limitation of the investigation inconsistent with international standards of air accident investigation,” the petition said.
It added, “Despite these known vulnerabilities, the investigation failed to seek technical clarification from Boeing, GE, or Honeywell or initiate independent software forensics or fault-injection testing.”
The petition said the current investigation approach “not only undermines aviation safety and public confidence but also violates the principles of justice and fairness”.
“Only a judicially monitored, expert-driven investigation, independent of regulatory authorities, can ensure a thorough, transparent and credible determination of the real causes of this tragedy, maintain accountability and prevent the recurrence of such catastrophic failures,” the petition said.
–IANS
PDS/VD