New Delhi, June 22: Refuting charges that Capt Zlatko Glusica, the pilot of Air India Express aircraft that crashed in Mangalore a year ago was not rostered to fly it, airline officials today said he was stationed in Mangalore two days before the mishap and was fully rested.
The commander's son, Alexander Glusica, was quoted in a report as claiming that his father was called at the last minute to operate the ill-fated flight IX-812. He alleged that the original crew roster in his father's laptop had not marked him to fly the plane.
On May 21 last year, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, operating the flight from Dubai, overshot the runway at Mangalore's Bajpe airport, killing 158 passengers and crew. Responding to questions on the allegations, the Air India officials said "the very fact that Capt Glusica was positioned in Mangalore on May 19 shows that he was scheduled to operate flights ex-Mangalore and he had more than two days clear rest before operating the ill-fated flight".
They said that the Court of Inquiry (CoI), set up by the Civil Aviation Ministry to probe the crash, had given "many opportunities (to Glusica's family members) to depose before it during the public hearings held at Mangalore and Delhi, which was declined by them".
They said any issue relating to rostering for flight duties could have been brought to the attention of this CoI.
The officials, requesting anonimity, said the CoI had "gone into minute details of all possible causes that could have led to the accident" and submitted the report that was accepted by the government. The family members also did not appear when the re- investigation process was on, they claimed.
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