The Directorate General of Civil Aviation will look into the reasons that led to Saturday’s crash, Patel said.
“The DGCA has ordered an inquiry,” Patel said. “Air India has constituted a team, headed by executive director (operations), to establish the circumstances, collect data and assist DGCA...”
Authorities are looking for the two black boxes that could provide vital leads to reasons behind the crash, Civil Aviation Secretary M.M. Nambiar said.
“The ministry will also set up a court of inquiry shortly,” he said. Airports Authority of India chairman V.P. Agarwal said the visibility at the Mangalore airport was 6 km at the time of the crash, more than what is required. “There was no distress indication from the pilot of the ill-fated plane.”
Patel said preliminary observation showed that there was no problem with the four-year-old runway or the aircraft but the plane had overshot by about 2,000 feet, leading to the mishap. (with inputs from PTI)