The Supreme Court has mandated a non-blame, ICAO-compliant inquiry into the Air India 171 crash. Read the full analysis on the government’s official submission, the deceased pilot’s family plea for an independent probe, and the critical need to investigate potential systemic failures over human error.
Air India 171 Crash Probe
The ongoing investigation into the devastating Air India Flight 171 crash has been given a crucial, system-defining directive by the Supreme Court of India. Following the Union Government’s submission, the apex court clarified that the purpose of the probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is fundamentally non-punitive: its singular goal is to determine the cause of the accident to prevent future tragedies, not to apportion blame or fix legal liability. This powerful judicial intervention decisively shifts the focus away from the potentially unfair targeting of human error and towards a critical examination of systemic aviation safety.
The June 12, 2025, Dreamliner crash from Ahmedabad claimed 260 lives and immediately plunged the aviation sector into deep introspection. The matter came before the Supreme Court through multiple petitions, most notably a deeply moving plea filed by the 91-year-old father of the deceased Pilot-in-Command, late Captain Sumeet Sabharwal. The father, supported by the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), voiced profound anguish over premature media speculation and the selective release of information from the preliminary report, which he feared was being used to unjustly attribute the crash to his son.
Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi sought to reassure the grieving family, making a widely reported, emphatic statement that “Nobody can blame him (the Pilot) for anything,” and stressing that the preliminary AAIB report contained no insinuation against the deceased crew. This judicial reassurance underscores a global best practice in aviation: the necessity of separating the safety investigation from punitive judicial or legal proceedings.
