Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Saturday said that a probe had been ordered into an Air India Express airliner crash at Mangalore airport, adding that it was premature to ascertain the actual cause of the accident that claimed 158 lives. “The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has already ordered an inquiry. Air India has constituted a team headed by executive director operations to take all necessary steps to establish circumstances, including collection of data pertaining to the accident. The team would assist the DGCA in inquiry into the accident,” Patel told reporters. Patel, who reached the accident site in the afternoon, said that both the pilots at the helm of the aircraft were senior, highly experienced and had made previous landings at the Mangalore airport. The commander, Z. Glusica, a British national of Serbian origin with over 10,200 hours of flying experience, had flown in and out of Mangalore airport at least 19 times, while co-pilot H S Ahluwalia had operated 66 times from the same airport. He added that the aircraft was new and had been acquired at the end of 2007. “It was hardly two-and-a-half years old... and this aircraft has no defect or malfunction,” he said. “These are preliminary observations. There will be a detailed inquiry,” he said. The Air India Express flight 812 flying in from Dubai crashed early Saturday while landing at Mangalore's “table top” airport surrounded by deep gorges. It erupted in flames when it overshot the runway and plunged down a cliff. The plane had 166 passengers, including 19 children, four infants and six crew members. There were eight survivors after the Boeing 737-800, which had come from Dubai appeared to skid off the runway in rain, Air India director Anup Srivastava said. At least 146 bodies had been recovered, said M. Nambiar, a top official in the Civil Aviation Ministry. “We had no hope to survive, but we survived,” Pradeep, a survivor who is an Indian technician working in Dubai, told local television. “The plane broke into two and we jumped off the plane. As soon as the plane landed, within seconds this happened.” Local television showed a fireman carrying what seemed to be the remains of a child from the smoking wreckage. Charred bodies lay in the forested terrain. All the passengers were Indian nationals, an Air India official in Dubai said. Many were likely Indian migrant workers in Dubai. The crash appeared to be an accident, Indian officials said. One TV report said the plane hit a radar pole on landing. “There was no distress indication from the pilot. That means between the pilot and the airport communication there was no indication of any problem,” V.P. Agarwal, director of Airports Authority of India, told local television. Indian officials said the plane crashed around 6 a.m. (0030 GMT). TV images showed it struck a forested area, and flames were blazing from the wreckage as rescue workers fought to bring the fire under control. “While landing at the airport, the plane deviated and hit something,” said Krishna, another survivor. “It caught fire and we fell out. We looked up and saw some opening and came out through that route.” Praful Patel said that conversations with the cockpit and other records showed the flight was operating normally before the touchdown. – Agencies Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed condolences and promised compensation for the families of the victims. Boeing said it was sending a team to aid in the investigation. At Dubai International Airport, a special room was set up to assist relatives and friends of the passengers at Terminal 2, a hub for many budget and small airlines. The Mangalore airport's location, on a plateau surrounded by hills, made it difficult for the firefighters to reach the scene of the crash, officials said. Aviation experts said Bajpe's “tabletop” runway, which ends in a valley, makes a bad crash inevitable when a plane does not stop in time. Patel said that the Mangalore airport has a limited spill-over area after the short runway. “Because the spill-over area was limited, it (the aircraft) went off a cliff,” he said. “The plane went into the spill-over area, hit the localiser, a wing broke there and the aircraft plunged into the valley 200-300 metre deep,” he said, adding that the plane did not catch fire immediately. The minister said the length of the runway had been increased from 6,000 feet to 8,000 feet to factor in landing of bigger aircraft. He said the aircraft black box, which records flight information, would be recovered as the entire wreckage had been found. Patel also brushed aside suggestions that airport safety norms were defied.
