Thursday, February 02, 2017

2 Air India pilots chargesheeted for death of technician

Over a year after an Air India aircraft technician died after being sucked into an aircraft engine at Mumbai airport, Sahar police filed a chargesheet accusing two pilots of causing his death due to negligence. The pilots were arrested and released on bail the day the chargesheet was submitted. The 188-page chargesheet was filed before the 22nd metropolitan magistrate court, Andheri, on December 29, 2016.
The Mumbai-Hyderabad flight 619 was being readied for departure on December 16, 2015, and technician Ravi Subramanian was attending to it around 8.40pm, when Capt Ashok Sharma (55) and co-pilot Nikhil Bhagwani (35) opened the engine power. The technician was sucked into the engine and killed instantly.
A month after Subramanian's death, Sahar police registered an FIR against the pilots on January 29. Given aviation technicalities involved, police waited for a report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which was investigating the case. The chargesheet was based on a 12-page preliminary report prepared and sent by AAIB, which held both pilots negligent. The pilots were arrested under Sections 34 and 304 A of Indian Penal Code for an offence of death caused due to a rash and negligent act.
Sahar police senior inspector B T Mukhedar and inspector Dattatray Thopate carried out independent investigations too. Police recorded statements of six eye-witnesses, all Subramanian's colleagues. "The witnesses said that before an aircraft is ready to taxi for take-off, the tow bar attached to the nose wheel to push it back from the parking bay has to be removed. The process of removing the tow bar was on when the accident occurred. As per laid-down procedure, the captain and co-pilot should have waited for the victim's signal, a thumbs up, before starting the engine. Instead of waiting for the go-ahead from the deceased, they started the engine," the source said.
02/02/17 The Times Of India
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