TL:DR – Air India Crash Inquiry Suggests Possible Intentional Pilot Actions in UK News
- Investigators suspect deliberate pilot action in the Air India Flight 171 disaster that killed 260.
- Mechanical failure and sabotage ruled out; pilot actions are the main focus.
- The captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, reportedly switched off engine fuel, raising suspicions of a potential murder-suicide.
- Families of the pilots resist blame, claiming scapegoating, as investigations continue.
- Only one survivor, Viswashkumar Ramesh, described his escape as miraculous.
Air India crash investigation ‘leaning towards deliberate pilot action’ | News World
Investigators in the Air India disaster, which killed 260 people, are reportedly leaning towards deliberate pilot action moments before the crash.
The bombshell theory, which has been rumoured about for months since the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad, is looking increasingly likely in India’s investigation, according to sources.
The experts have already ruled out a mechanical failure, and they have not discovered evidence of sabotage, Bloomberg reports, citing people close to the probe, who asked not to be named as the potentially explosive findings are not yet public.
It means pilot action remains the strongest line of enquiry in the crash, which left only one survivor.
Chunks of the plane landed on nearby buildings, causing a high death toll on the ground too (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Authorities and families of the pilots have reportedly been resistant to the pilot involvement theory behind the crash, which happened just minutes after the Boeing 787 took off en route to London, causing one of India’s worst aviation disasters.
The captain of the plane was Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, who had clocked over 15,600 hours in the cockpit. The second in command was the first pilot, Clive Kunder, who had 3,403 hours of flying experience.
Previously leaked information from the investigation has suggested that the captain may have switched off the engine fuel flow, further raising suspicions about the cause.
Debris from the plane was scattered wide after the crash, which killed all 12 crew members, 229 out of 230 passengers, and 19 people on the ground (Picture: Saurabh Sirohiya/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)
And an early assessment by US officials suggested that the crash was not due to any problems with the jet.
This has raised speculation that the crash could have been a murder-suicide, although the investigation is still ongoing by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
However, the questions have led to a blame game between the authorities, the pilots’ families, and a pilots’ union.
On the ground, 19 people died and 67 were seriously hurt when the Air India Flight 171 crashed into the hospital dormitory (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Families mourning their loved ones have been in limbo since the crash, with many reportedly receiving the wrong remains (Picture: Reuters)
An early report released by the AAIB as a standard procedure noted that the fuel cutoff switches had been moved from ‘run’ to cutoff, meaning the engine ended up without any fuel and the plane began to lose height.
The report says: ‘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.’
Many took this as a sign that the problem wasn’t with the plane, while families of the two men in the cockpit have argued they are being scapegoated for the disaster to avoid blame on the plane manufacturer, Boeing.
The 91-year-old dad of captain Sabharwal, whom the Air India pilot was looking after at the time of the crash, has asked India’s Supreme Court for an independent investigation.
The Air India flight was carrying 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, one Canadian and seven Portuguese passengers when it crashed outside the airport, landing on a hospital accommodation building.
Only one person survived the crash.
Viswashkumar Ramesh said he is the ‘luckiest man’ alive after climbing out of the wreckage, an escape that experts have described as impossible.
The agony of the grieving Air India families has been made worse after they received the wrong remains, including several British families.