Nephew of AI-171 pilot summoned for probe, pilot body objects

NEw new delhi: The Federation of native american Pilots (FIP) has objected to the Aircraft chance event investigating Bureau (AAIB) forthcoming Capt. Varun Anand, nephew of late Capt. Sumeet Sabharwal, in connection with the probe into the AI 171 crash and has served a legal notice to the probe agency.In the notice sent on January 11, the pilots’ body has claimed that Anand has no association whatsoever with the aircraft, the flight in question, etc, and “the governing framework does not contemplate examination of family members of deceased crew who have no factual or technical linkage to the occurrence.”According to the legal notice, Air India informed Capt. Anand that the AAIB had asked him to appear in connection with the incident on June 12, when Air India’s widebody Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating airline’s flight AI171 enroute to London Gatwick crashed into a medical hostel complex soon after take off from Ahmedabad Airport killing 260 people, including all 241 people on board the aircraft.Capt. Anand is a narrow-body aircraft pilot with Air India.“The said intimation does not disclose the statutory provision, purpose or relevance under which Capt. Varun Anand has been sought to be summoned, nor does it specify the capacity in which his presence is required,” the legal notice said.The FIP said the pilot has no association whatsoever with the aircraft, the flight in question, its planning, dispatch, operation, maintenance, certification, airworthiness clearance or crew composition. It also clarified that Capt. Anand was not present at the site of the accident and does not possess any factual, technical or operational knowledge relating to the circumstances of the accident.“The summoning of the nephew of the deceased pilot and his relatives, irrespective of their lack of nexus with the incident, reinforces the apprehension that such actions are not rooted in any lawful investigative necessity,” the notice said.“The summoning of Capt. Varun Anand, as also of other family members, is wholly without jurisdiction and contrary to the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) rules as well as ICAO Annex 13, which strictly confine accident investigations to technical, safety-oriented fact-finding and expressly prohibit attribution of blame or liability. The governing framework does not contemplate examination of family members of deceased crew who have no factual or technical linkage to the occurrence,” the notice said.“The sole basis for calling Capt. Varun Anand appears to be his familial relationship with the deceased Pilot-in-Command, which is impermissible in law and renders the summoning arbitrary and unsustainable,” it added.The AI 171 crash investigation is still on and the final report by the AAIB, which is investigating the country’s one of the worst aviation disasters, is expected to be released by June this year.To be sure, father of late Capt. Sumeet Sabharwal had approached the Supreme Court in October by filing a writ petition challenging, among other things, the independence and fairness of the investigation being conducted by the AAIB.The FIP, however, said that Capt. Anand will appear via video conference to answer any queries and has asked the AAIB to indicate a suitable date and time for the interaction.Government officials did not respond to HT’s queries on the FIP petition.