Expat commanders on Indian flights matter of concern: BJP

NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday said it would wait for the probe report into the Mangalore air crash before making a comment but added that expatriate commanders operating Indian aircraft was an issue of concern.

“We will wait for the DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) inquiry into reasons for the accident,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters here.

Speaking from his experience as a trained pilot and as a former civil aviation minister, Rudy cited possible technical errors for the crash.

“All these signs and survivors’ stories lead it (crash) to be a human error, but we will wait till the comprehensive technical report is seen,” he said.

“It is a matter of concern that most of our commanders are expatriates and there is an issue of unfamiliarity of terrain, language etc,” he said.

Expressing the BJP’s condolences at the tragedy, Rudy said party president Nitin Gadkari, parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley had expressed their sympathies with the bereaved families.

At least 159 people were killed when Air India Express flight 812 flying in from Dubai crashed while landing at the Mangalore airport and burst into flames as it overshot the touchdown zone and rolled down a cliff.