Air India pilot's medical records examined after mental health claims
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who was 56, was months from retirement but had been considering leaving the airline to look after his elderly father following the death of his mother in 2022, The Telegraph can reveal.
The pilot, who had more than 15,000 flying hours to his name, last undertook a Class I medical exam on Sept 5 last year.
His records have been handed to investigators, whose initial report said their focus was on the actions of the pilots rather than a technical fault with the plane. The Airline Pilots' Association of India said it rejected the 'tone and direction' of the inquiry.
Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a leading aviation safety expert in India, told The Telegraph: 'I have heard from several Air India pilots who told me he had some depression and mental health issues. He had taken time off from flying in the last three to four years. He had taken medical leave for that.'
The Telegraph understands that Captain Sabharwal took bereavement leave following the death of his mother. However, Mr Ranganathan said: 'He must have been medically cleared by the company [Air India] doctors. They must have given the clearance certificate.'
All but one of the 242 people on board the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were killed when the aircraft plunged into a medical student hostel last month, less than a minute after take-off from Ahmedabad airport.
The preliminary report released by the Indian authorities early on Saturday indicated that switches controlling fuel flow to the jet's two engines were turned off, leading to a catastrophic loss of thrust at take-off.
According to the report, one of the pilots is heard in the recovered cockpit voice recording asking the other why he cut off the fuel supply. The other pilot responds that he did not. It is not known who said what.
While the initial report did not draw any conclusion, it has drawn attention to the actions of Captain Sabharwal, the plane's captain, and Clive Kundar, the First Officer.
As per cockpit procedures, the pilot flying and in control of the take-off was First Officer Kundar, who would have had both hands on the control column during take-off.
Captain Sabharwal, the pilot monitoring, would have had his hands free, leaving him in a position to cut off the fuel supply, Mr Ranganathan claimed.
He joined Air India in 1994, building a record of more than 8,000 flying hours on this type of aircraft. After his mother's death, he moved from Delhi to Mumbai to care for his father, even considering leaving the airline altogether to devote himself fully to his family.
Neighbours in Powai, Mumbai, remembered him as a quiet man who was often seen escorting his father on evening walks. 'He was a doting son who never missed a chance to take his father down for fresh air,' said one.
Neil Pais, a former colleague, said the pilot was a 'thorough gentleman', telling The Telegraph: 'He was actually considering early retirement in the next couple of years. His father is very old, 90, and he was going to look after him full time. That was the plan.
'We're all human beings. Yes, there have been crew who've displayed tendencies towards mental health issues, and they've been grounded straight away. It's not allowed to go unchecked.
'Often it's more about life outside the job, which of course plays a part in how you perform. But if there's a concern, it's taken up by operations, by the right departments. They don't let anyone fly if there's any doubt.'
Savitri Budhania, an elderly neighbour of Captain Sabharwal in Mumbai, said: 'I told him, 'Your father is too old to be alone.' And he replied, 'Just one or two more flights… then I'm going to just be with Papa.''
'Who could have known that would be the last time? Whenever he wasn't flying, he would walk hand in hand with his father in the evenings. They smiled at everyone, just gentle, quiet people.'
Air India declined to comment, but an official working with the Tata Group, the airline's parent company, told The Telegraph that Captain Sabharwal had not taken recent medical leave.
'He did take bereavement leave in 2022 following his mother's death, and his medical records were submitted as part of the investigation, and the preliminary report did not find anything noteworthy,' he said.
Both pilots had passed the Class I medical exam, which evaluates a pilot's psycho-physical capacity, within the last two years.
First Officer Kunder, 28, came from a family steeped in aviation. His mother was a flight crew member, and he began his professional career with an aircraft maintenance course at Mumbai's Bombay Flying Club before moving into the cockpit.
Raised in Air India's colony at Kalina before the family moved to Borivali, he had logged 1,100 flying hours early in his career.
Relatives and friends of the victims called the report's findings a 'slap in the face' and questioned how 'something so trivial as a simple switch being deactivated' had caused such a catastrophe.
The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association said the crew of flight 171 had acted in line with their training and responsibilities under challenging conditions. It strongly rejected insinuations of malpractice, saying it was deeply disturbed by the speculation.
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