Sumeet Sabharwal, a veteran Air India pilot, is under scrutiny after a crash killed 260 people. Photo / Supplied
Sumeet Sabharwal was either a “sad sack” or a “hero”, depending on who you asked.
The 56-year-old veteran pilot of the doomed Air India flight did not drink, never swore, was a committed captain and a doting son to his elderly father.
But underneath his “melancholic eyes”, he was weighed down by the death of his mother, navigating life after separating from his wife and wanted to quit the airline to spend more time at home.
Cockpit recordings suggest it was him who cut the fuel supply to the engines of Air India flight 171, causing it to lose thrust and crash into the ground.
Before the crash in June, where 260 people died just after take-off in Ahmedabad, he said to a security guard at his apartment complex: “Please, take care of papa. I will be back soon.”
Sabharwal joined Air India in 1994 and has logged 15,638 hours of flying time, with 8596 on the 787 aircraft. He flew a Boeing 777 until he trained up between 2014 and 2015 to fly the newer Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.
Known among his peers for being calm under pressure, he had never been involved in any major incident in his career until June 12.
Neil Pais, 61, a former colleague of Sabharwal, said: “He was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to fly with.
“He had absolutely no airs about himself, so humble, so respectful. Always a smile when he spoke to you. I never once saw him raise his voice or lose his temper. And yet he never compromised on work or safety. If there was an issue, he’d point it out, but always in the nicest possible way.”
Captain Kapil Kohal, a long-time friend and fellow Air India pilot, called Sabharwal “sad sack” but remembered him as a “hero” with a “gentle soul”.
“He was my senior at flying school and later in Air India. We called him ‘Sad Sack’ because of his melancholic eyes, but he was deeply charismatic and always ready to help.”
Kohal said it was Sabharwal’s humility that distinguished him from his peers.
“Despite wearing four stripes, he never threw his weight around. He was quiet, reserved, and completely focused on flying.
“His room was immaculately clean,” he said of Sabharwal’s lifestyle during training. “Just two shirts, two T-shirts, two shoes, and a bag. That was it. He didn’t drink, didn’t curse, and spoke so softly that I’d sometimes ask him to repeat himself.”
Kohal said Sabharwal was a mentor, not just a colleague. “When I was assigned to shadow him, he explained flying concepts better than some instructors. He was a middle-class boy looking at the sky, saying, ‘I want to be there.’”
Sunil Lokhande, the security guard at the Sabharwals’ residence at Jal Vayu Vihar in Powai neighbourhood of Mumbai, said: “I can’t forget that last moment, when he ran his hand through his hair, like he always did, and said, ‘How are you Mr Lokhande. Please, take care of papa, and I will be back soon.
“He smiled and went away. You’d never guess he carried any sadness inside.”
He added: “[Sabharwal] would visit home for two or three days and take his father for an evening walk regularly. Buy vegetables and fruits. He would often share fruits with me and would give money to buy meals or tea.”
Three days before his death, Sabharwal told Pushkaraj, his father, that he was planning to resign from Air India and permanently return home to take care of him.
“He was actually considering early retirement in the next couple of years,” Pais said. “His father is very old, and he was going to look after him fulltime. That was the plan.”
He had struggled to come to terms with the death of his mother in 2022 and moved from Delhi to Mumbai, to be closer to his father. He had also separated from his wife.
On Sunday, the Telegraph revealed that Air India crash investigators were examining the medical records of Sabharwal amid claims that he suffered from depression and mental health problems.
His last Class I medical exam, which evaluates a pilot’s psycho-physical capacity, was passed in September.
According to a US assessment of the black box data, Sabharwal is likely to have cut off the fuel supply by moving the switches to the cut-off position before it glided down toward the ground and crashed in Ahmedabad.
Clive Kunder, the first officer who was flying the Boeing 787-8, questioned why the captain had moved switches to the cut-off position.
The assessment follows a preliminary report released by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) that found that switches controlling fuel flow to the jet’s two engines were turned off, leading to a catastrophic loss of thrust at take-off.
The findings explain why the jet’s emergency-power generator, known as a ram air turbine, appeared to have been activated moments before it plummeted to the ground.
All but one of 242 people on board the Dreamliner were killed when the aircraft plunged into a medical student halls of residence in a built-up suburb last month, less than a minute after take-off from Ahmedabad airport.
While the initial report does not draw any conclusion, it has raised questions about the actions of two pilots.
Kohol expressed frustration at reports blaming the pilots for the crash. “Whatever the experts or media say, I know he stayed with that aircraft till the end. He followed every protocol. He was an ace pilot, and now, to me, a true captain.”