Pilot error responsible for crash, states CoI report

Pilot error responsible for crash, states CoI report

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, November 17: The Court of Inquiry (CoI), appointed to investigate the circumstances that led to the tragic Mangalore plane crash of May 22, 2010, has come to the conclusion that Captain Z. Glusica, the pilot in command of the Boeing 747 aircraft, was responsible for the crash that killed 158 passengers and crew. 

In the first place, Captain Glusica was too sleepy and therefore was late to react, stated the report. Besides, a number of standard operating procedures were not followed while landing.

According to the report, the Air India Express flight IX-812 from Dubai to Mangalore on May 22, reached later than usual, touched down on Runway 24 of the Mangalore Airport, which is 8000ft in length when it had already crossed more than 5000ft of it. Since the remaining 3000ft was too short, the pilot attempted to take off again only to crash into the ravine.

The report stated that the pilot could have brought the plane to a halt in spite of the limited runway left if only he had applied the emergency brakes and had not attempted to take off at the last minute. The plane’s take off gear was found activated.

The CoI report has also revealed that the expatriate chief pilot was asleep nearly 1 hour 40 minutes of the 3-hour long flight and was not fully alert when the plane started to land. According to sources, Glusica was suffering from “sleep inertia.” The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and digital data recorder (DFDR) have recorded sounds of heavy breathing and snoring. According to reliable sources, the National Transportation Safety Board of the US, which played a role in the examination of the DFDR and CVR, informed the members of the CoI that such heavy snoring and breathing was rarely heard.

H. S. Ahluwalia, the copilot of the ill-fated Boeing, warned Glusica to abort landing because there wasn’t much of runway left and urged him to “go around” at least thrice. During the last moments, the pilot was heard saying, “Oh my God,” and the co-pilot was saying “pull up.” The report suggested that last minute remedies such as “hard landing” and “medical check ups” can help prevent such tragedies.

The CoI report, which was submitted to Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Tuesday will be tabled in Parliament soon.