Sumeet Sabharwal, who the Indian government has said had 8,200 flying hours of experience and was also an Air India instructor, was the commanding pilot of flight AI171. His co-pilot was Clive Kunder who had 1,100 hours of experience. Mr Sabharwal’s funeral took place in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Air India's deadly plane crash that killed at least 270 people has triggered a wave of speculation about what led to the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade, but authorities are slowly narrowing down areas of investigation.