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A pilot’s 91-year-old father died air india crash In June, which took the lives of 260 people, has asked India‘S Supreme Court For an independent investigation into the disaster.
Pushkar Raj Sabharwal’s legal challenge marks a significant increase in opposition to both him and the pilot union. Who have criticized the Indian government’s handling of what is considered the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The accident occurred soon after the flight took off from Ahmedabad.
Weeks after publicly questioning the official investigation, Sabharwal is demanding an investigation by aviation experts under the supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge.
The government has denied the allegations and described its investigation as “very thorough” and “very thorough”.
On 11 October, Sabharwal informed the court that the investigation team “focuses primarily on the dead pilots (…) while failing to investigate or eliminate other more plausible technical and procedural causes.”
It also calls for the government investigation to be closed and handed over to a new panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, including aviation experts, two sources said on condition of anonymity.
Judges have not yet heard the case, which the Supreme Court website showed on Thursday was filed jointly by the father and the Federation of Indian Pilots against the government, though it gave no details.
The AAIB, the civil aviation ministry, plane maker Boeing and Air India did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Sabharwal’s father and the pilots’ union did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The AAIB’s preliminary report showed that the Boeing BA.N Dreamliner’s fuel engine switches were flipped almost simultaneously from run to cutoff shortly after takeoff.
A source briefed on the initial assessment of evidence by US officials in July said that cockpit recordings of conversations between the two pilots supported the idea that Captain Sabharwal had cut off fuel flow to the engines. reuters,
The Federation of Indian Pilots has about 5,000 members.