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ISLAMABAD: The Indian Supreme Court told the father of the pilot-in-command of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed in June, killing 260, that it was not the pilot&rsquo;s fault, reported Indian media. Earlier in June, Air India Flight 171, which was a scheduled passenger flight from Ahmedabad Airport in India to London Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom, crashed 32 seconds after takeoff, killing all crew members and 229 out of 230 passengers aboard. Following the crash, the India&#39;s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) in July issued its preliminary report stating that fuel supply to the engines was cut off just seconds after takeoff. Later in September, an Indian court said it was &quot;irresponsible&quot; for the aviation authority to suggest, through leaks to the media, that pilot error had caused the disaster, reported Indian media. It called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the government&#39;s response before it rules on a case filed by activists demanding an independent investigation, BBC reported. The court said the way the aviation body released its preliminary report into the Boeing Dreamliner&#39;s crash was &quot;selective and piecemeal.&quot; That same month, the DGCA uncovered 51 safety violations at Air India in the preceding year as part of its annual audit of the country&#39;s airlines. The families of four passengers who died on the plane filed a lawsuit in the US against planemaker Boeing and aircraft parts maker Honeywell, accusing the companies of negligence. The lawsuit accused the companies of doing &quot;nothing&quot; despite being aware of the risks of the aircraft&#39;s design. In the recent statement by the Indian Apex Court, it told the 91-year-old father that his son, Sumeet Sabharwal, is not to be blamed and will not take the burden, reported the Times of India.&nbsp; &ldquo;You should not carry burden on yourself. The pilot is not to be blamed for the plane crash. It was an accident. There is no insinuation against him even in the preliminary report&rdquo;, said the bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi to pilot father.&nbsp; Indians reacting to the decisionIndians questioned the probe process, asking if the investigation will be able to withstand Boeing and American pressures.<div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1986687510513393889&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2Fnew%2F&sessionId=cadf0a4ae175191b4df89e9b391876c5274e5fd6&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> </blockquote><div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; 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India

India’s Supreme Court ruled that the pilot of the Air India Boeing 787 crash in June was not at fault, criticizing the aviation authority’s handling of the probe and urging transparency

Top Indian court clears Air India pilot as families demand crash accountability

NEW DELHI: India&rsquo;s leading body of pilots has asked the civil aviation regulator to inspect all Boeing 787 Dreamliners operating in the country for electrical issues after one of the planes abruptly deployed an emergency power system midair over the weekend.&nbsp;The device, a small propeller that acts as a backup generator and which is known as the ram air turbine, or RAT, normally would be activated when an aircraft&#39;s engines lose power, its hydraulic systems register critically low pressure or its electrical systems fail.&nbsp;However, the RAT engaged unexpectedly on Saturday aboard Air India flight 117 from the northern Indian city of Amritsar moments before it landed safely in Birmingham, England.&nbsp;The Federation of Indian Pilots, which represents about 6,000 pilots, asked for the investigation Sunday evening.&nbsp;Air India, owned by business conglomerate Tata Group, said in a statement that an initial inspection following the weekend incident found that &ldquo;all electrical and hydraulic parameters were normal&rdquo; and that the aircraft landed safely.&nbsp;The midair deployment of the emergency device has reignited concerns in India over the safety of the Dreamliner. In June, an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London <a href="https://apnews.com/article/india-plane-crash-cad8dad5cd0e92795b03d357404af5f8" style="font-size: 18px; color: rgb(0, 115, 230);">crashed</a> in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, killing 260 people including 19 on the ground, in one of India&rsquo;s worst aviation disasters.&nbsp;A preliminary report into the June 12 crash found that the fuel control switches for the engines were moved from the &ldquo;run&rdquo; to the &ldquo;cutoff&rdquo; position moments before impact, starving both engines of fuel. The RAT system activated as it was supposed to have done when the plane lost power and engine thrust, the report said. Charanvir Singh Randhawa, president of the Federation of Indian Pilots, said that he&#39;d never heard of the RAT system being deployed even when there are no problems in the engines, hydraulics or electrical systems, as appeared to be the case over the weekend. &quot;It&rsquo;s a serious concern that warrants a detailed inquiry,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Randhawa, whose career spans five decades in aviation, wrote an email to India&rsquo;s Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Sunday, apprising it of the incident and urging an investigation into the electrical systems of all Boeing Dreamliners operating in India.&nbsp;A spokesman for India&rsquo;s Civil Aviation Ministry didn&rsquo;t respond to a request for comment, and a spokeswoman for Boeing India was not immediately available for comment.&nbsp;

Asia

India’s leading body of pilots has asked the civil aviation regulator to inspect all Boeing 787 Dreamliners operating in the country for electrical issues after one of the planes abruptly deployed an emergency power system midair

Articles tagged with "Boeing 787 Dreamliners"

Top Indian court clears Air India pilot as families demand crash accountability

Air India's Boeing emergency raises fresh safety concerns over Dreamliner