The Supreme Court on Monday, September 22, termed the reports claiming that pilots deliberately cut-off fuel of the ill-fated Air India plane that crashed on June 12 this year as "unfortunate" and "irresponsible". The SC made the observation while hearing a petition seeking an independent investigation into the tragedy. The top court also sought responses from the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The apex court has also sought a response from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Notably, the AAIB published a preliminary report on the crash in July this year.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was reportedly filed by an NGO Safety Matters Foundation, an aviation safety NGO headed by Captain Amit Singh.
The AAIB in its report mentioned that both switches feeding fuel to the two engines of Air India flight 171 were cut off, seconds after taking off.
"The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC, and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec," the had report said.
The report pointed out that the engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off. "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," it had added.
Notably, at the time the aircraft took off, the co-pilot was flying the plane, while the captain was monitoring, reported PTI.
The London-bound Air India flight, AI 171, crashed on June 12 just seconds after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport in Ahmedabad. At the time of the incident, there were 242 people onboard the plane, including 12 crew members. Only one passenger survived the crash.
The flight was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, an experienced Line Training Captain with 8,200 flight hours, and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had logged 1,100 flight hours.
The plane crashed into the hostel of BJ Medical College campus and burst into a ball of fire as it was carrying a lot of fuel for the long-haul flight. Over 275, including the people on the ground, were killed in the crash.
