Ahluwalia reportedly not on speaking terms with Glusica

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, April 22: Reportedly, the late H. S. Ahuluwalia, who was the co-pilot on the Dubai – Mangalore Air India Boeing that crashed in Kenjar Valley on May 22, 2010, killing 158 of its crew and passengers, was not very happy about flying with foreign commanders. The Boeing was commandeered by Z. Glusica, a British national of Serbian origin.

According to details reports regarding the crash, sleep inertia on the part of the pilot and his refusal to obey Ahluwalia’s commands to “go around” instead of landing led to the crash. The report also says that Ahluwalia failed to wake the pilot much earlier because he was averse to flying with expat pilots and that the two were not on talking terms for a long time.

The Court of Inquiry (CoI), which was instituted to investigate the crash, has suggested that proper communication among cockpit crew should be emphasized and that training and workshops to develop assertiveness among first officers must be organized to prevent such tragedies in future.

The CoI had concluded that the crash occurred because the captain failed to heed the copilot’s warnings and stated in its reports that Ahluwalia had lodged a complaint against a foreign pilot and that the management had not counseled him and the foreign pilot to resolve the issue, owing to which Ahluwalia did not wake up the pilot in time