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. Sabharwal's funeral took place in Mumbai on Tuesday.

A 1944 global aviation pact, and the principle of shared air safety, explains the foreign presence at the AI 171 crash site