Supreme Court: "No One Should Blame Pilot" in Fatal Air India Dreamliner Crash That Killed 260

Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people in June prompted the Supreme Court to address the pilot's father today, saying no one should blame the pilot-in-command for the tragedy.

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal (left); 260 died in the Air India Dreamliner crash

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre, the civil aviation regulator (DGCA), and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) following petitions from Pushkaraj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, and the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP).

Justice Surya Kant compassionately told the 91-year-old father, "This crash was extremely unfortunate, but you should not carry this burden that your son is being blamed."

He further emphasized, "No one in India believes it was the pilot's fault. There's no insinuation against the pilot [in the preliminary report]. One pilot asked whether the fuel was cut-off by the other; the other said no."

When the father's lawyer mentioned a Wall Street Journal article, Justice Kant dismissed it saying, "We are not bothered by foreign reports. Your remedy should then be before a foreign court? It's just nasty reporting."

The petitioners approached the Supreme Court after the AAIB's preliminary report in July stated that fuel supply to both engines was cut off shortly after takeoff. According to the report, the two fuel control switches were moved to the "cutoff" position in quick succession, and although they were turned back on about 10 seconds later, the engines had already flamed out, causing the crash.

Gopal Shankaranarayan, representing the pilot's father, argued that an independent judicial committee should investigate the Dreamliner crash because the AAIB probe was not independent. "There's a problem with Boeing aircraft all over the world," he noted, adding that an independent investigation is necessary since the Dreamliner was involved in an "accident" case, not an "incident".

After issuing notices, the Supreme Court said it would hear both cases on November 10.

The AAIB report did not rule out technical faults and mentioned that aviation medicine and psychology experts are part of the ongoing investigation.

Air India managing director and CEO Campbell Wilson stated on October 30 that while the AAIB report found no fault with the airline's operations or practices, the airline continues to introspect and improve its systems. "Anything that happens in the industry, whether that's us or others, is a cause for introspection. It's a cause for reviewing practices," Wilson said at the Aviation India 2025 Summit in Delhi.