Could prior counselling of co-pilot HS Ahluwalia, who had reservations about flying with foreign commanders, have averted the crash of an Air India Express flight in Mangalore last May?
Could prior counselling of co-pilot HS Ahluwalia, who had reservations about flying with foreign commanders, have averted the crash of an Air India Express flight in Mangalore last May?
The ill-fated Boeing 737-800 flight was commandered by Serbian Z Glusica and was on way to Mangalore from Dubai on the morning of May 22. A detailed report on the accident has found that ‘sleep inertia’ of the captain and his insistence on landing despite Ahluwalia’s repeated cries of a “go around” led to the crash. But it also says that First Officer Ahluwalia did not wake up Glusica earlier “due to such feelings” (against expat commanders) and that Glusica and Ahluwalia were not on talking terms for a long time. The crash claimed over 150 lives.
The lack of communication between the captain and his co-pilot has now led to a Court of Inquiry (CoI), instituted to investigate the crash, to suggest that greater emphasis be laid on effective communication between cockpit crew. “Specific issues regarding multi-cultural crew composition should be covered during the crew resource management training. Flight crew should be sensitised to implications of nil or little communication on the flight deck during cruise phase.” It has also suggested workshops and training on “assertiveness” by first officers for better in-flight coordination.
The CoI has concluded that the cause of this accident was the captain’s failure to discontinue the “unstabilised approach” and his insistence in continuing with the landing, despite three calls from the first officer to ‘go around’ and a number of warnings from the air traffic control team.
Ahluwalia, the report said, has been known to be a stickler for operating procedures. On an earlier occasion, he had made a written complaint about one foreign pilot to the management of Air India Express. The management was yet to counsel him and the foreign pilot. “Possibly, due to such feelings, the first officer did not try to wake up the captain, who was sleeping,” the report noted.
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