Pilot's father, FIP move SC for judicial inquiry

The father of late Capt. Sumeet Sabharwal, who commanded the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, has moved the Supreme Court along with the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), seeking a judicially monitored investigation into the accident.

- Neha LM Tripathi

He has also sought closure of the ongoing probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).

The writ petition, filed on October 10 under Article 32 of the Constitution, requests that a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and comprising independent aviation experts be constituted to conduct a fair and transparent inquiry into the crash. It claims the preliminary report prepared by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is "defective, biased, and incomplete",because it attributes the cause of the accident to pilot error while disregarding serious technical and systemic factors that merit independent scrutiny.

On June 12, Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft en route to London Gatwick from Ahmedabad crashed into a building soon after takeoff, killing 260 people.