On Monday, 22nd September, the Supreme Court raised concerns over the preliminary findings of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on the 12th June Air India crash. The court said some parts of the report, which pointed to mistakes by the pilots, were “irresponsible.” It has now issued notices to the Centre and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on a plea demanding an independent and fair probe.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh observed that there are issues of confidentiality and privacy involved but stressed that the investigation must be free, fair, and completed quickly.
The plea was filed by aviation safety NGO Safety Matters Foundation, led by Captain Amit Singh. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the NGO, contended that the probe committee had three members from the aviation regulator and raised concerns of possible conflict of interest. He also asked for the release of full flight data to understand the cause of the crash.
The plea also complained that the AAIB’s 12th July report unfairly impugned the pilots for the inappropriate switching of “fuel cutoff” levers, while withholding important data such as the Digital Flight Data Recorder, complete cockpit transcripts, and aircraft fault records, information critical to an open investigation.
