Mangalore airport tests pilot’s skills: Krishna

BANGALORE - External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said the Mangalore airport, where an Air India plane crashed Saturday, is known to test the limits of pilot’s skills.

“Well, it was known that the Mangalore airport and runway are a very tricky and the skills of the pilot would be put to maximum test while landing,” Krishna told a television news channel.

An Air India Express aircraft crashed after overshooting the runway killing 158 people.

Krishna is on his way to the accident site to join his cabinet colleagues Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily.

“In over a decade, there hasn’t been such a big accident. My heart goes out to the relatives of those killed,” he said.

–Indo-Asian New Service