Who were the plane’s two pilots?published at 04:44 British Summer Time
Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent
The preliminary report has brought fresh attention to the two pilots in control of the ill-fated Air India flight.
Just seconds after take-off, cockpit audio captured one pilot asking the other, “Why did you do the cut-off?”- referring to the fuel switch that starved the engines. The other replied, “I didn’t.” It’s still unclear who asked the question – and who answered.
Here’s what we know about the crew.
Capt Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, was a veteran with 30 years of experience at Air India. He had logged 15,638 flying hours, including 8,596 on the Boeing 787. Based in Mumbai, he lived with his elderly father and was looking forward to retirement.
First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, had 3,403 total flying hours, with 1,128 on the Dreamliner. He joined Air India in 2017 and had dreamed of flying since school.
Both were based in Mumbai and had arrived in Ahmedabad the day before the flight, with adequate rest, the report says. Kunder was the pilot flying, while Sabharwal was the pilot monitoring, it says.
The crew had passed pre-flight breathalyser tests and were seen at the gate on CCTV before they took off, the report adds.