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'Does it take so many lives for the Indian government to decide to replace old aircraft?'

Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000, 10:42:49EST +0530
Subject: Alliance Air Boeing 737 crashes near Patna

I am grieved to learn about the crash of Boeing 737. I am a frequent flier myself and I have always had a fear of flying Alliance Air as they have planes which are more than 25 years old and which have been discarded by Indian Airlines.

Indian Airlines, the parent company, boasts of the best ground maintenance facilities but they should realise that these facilities cannot be relied upon when the aircraft have crossed their normal life-span. The DGCA should immediately announce the grounding of all Boeing 737-200s. I express my deepest condolences to the relatives of the passengers who lost their lives in this crash.

Rajeev Lamba

Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000, 12:46:27EST +0530
Subject: Alliance Air Boeing 737 crashes near Patna

If your site had also displayed the list of passengers on the ill-fated aircraft it would have helped your readers as it is very difficult to get the telephone lines of the airlines office. Such a list would have helped us know if any of our dear ones were on the dreaded flight.

S K Dey

Dear Mr Dey
But rediff.com did put up the list; in fact we were the first to publish the passenger manifest. You will find it at Passenger list aboard CD-7412
-- Editor

Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000, 14:39:59EST +0530
Subject: Major air crashes in India

You should have also included Vayudoot, Pawan Hans and the other crashes to really show how scary the Indian skies are. And perhaps compared the rate of air crashes in India with that in other countries.

Jayashree Mohanka

Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000, 16:24:39EST +0530
Subject: Alliance Air Boeing 737 crashes near Patna

I am a frequent flier on Indian Airlines, over routes in the West and South India. One reason why I chose to fly with Indian Airlines is that the A-320 is a spacious aircraft when compared to the rival 737 flown by Jet. However, of late, Indian Airlines has started placing some really ancient B-737 aircraft, like VT-EGE on the Delhi-Pune-Delhi route which I commute on at least once a week.

I happened to fly on this aircraft back from Pune -- IC-850 -- on Thursday, July 13, and the commander, one Captain Ivan Jalal-ud-Din, who happened to be strolling around near the gangway, was quite upset that he was being made to operate this aircraft which didn't have an auxiliary power unit apart from having some minor defects in the engine. Even when we landed at Delhi airport, we were made to wait for 20 minutes inside the aircraft because none of the doors could be opened. One shudders to think what would have happened in case of a real emergency.

The seat mountings on these aircraft seem to be loose. The emergency exit panels are not in good shape. Most of all, as a seafarer who knows how to analyse metal by sight, the rivetting and "crop and renew" sign visible all over the airframe, fuselage and wings, is not of a standard that would pass muster even on ships.

Only recently I had decided that I was not going to fly on Indian Airlines anymore if they put an old 737 on the Delhi-Pune-Delhi route. Blaming the pilot for the crash is the easiest thing to do. But it is a fact that the 737 aircraft with Alliance (and mind you, this VT-EGE was still carrying a weather-beaten IC tail, and the hostess told me that the aircraft had been lying unused for "years" pending disposal) are flying coffins. Nothing on earth can make me board a Boeing-737 of Indian Airlines/Alliance anymore.

My heart goes out to the crew and passengers killed in this crash.

Veeresh Malik

Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000, 16:57:13EST +0530
Subject: Civil aviation secretary blames pilot error for crash

The aviation secretary seems to be particularly insensitive and most likely is a pompous ass like many government functionaries.

Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000, 00:11:53EST +0530
Subject: Alliance Air Boeing 737 crashes near Patna

I will be flying to Delhi this evening and am scared to do so after reading your report on the plane crash. I pray for the survivors and wish IA would phase out the Boeing 737s.

C Ganapathy

Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000, 14:04:14EST +0530
Subject: Alliance Air Boeing 737 crashes near Patna

The air crash and the events following it have been well reported on your site. The fact that the airline continues to fly old and badly maintained aircraft only goes to prove that human life is not valued in India. Travelling in India as such has become completely unsafe -- be it road or rail or air -- and this is because of poor infrastructure and bad maintenance. I think it is time some hard decisions were taken and air travel made more safe.

Jagdish N Nair

Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000, 12:08:51EST +0100
Subject: Government decides to buy new planes for Alliance Air

This is an ideal example of knee-jerk reactions to a catastrophe. On the one hand we hear that it was pilot error that caused the crash and on the other, we have Mr Yadav deciding to buy new aircraft the day after the crash. Is this not a tacit admission that it was the age and condition of the aircraft that caused the accident and not pilot error?

S Shankar

Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000, 09:26:02EST -0500
Subject: Government decides to buy new planes for Alliance Air

Does it take the loss of so many lives for the Indian government to decide to replace old aircraft?

Ramesh Sankaran

Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000, 06:17:24EST +0530
Subject: Alliance Air Boeing 737 crashes near Patna

This crash was an accident that was waiting to happen. Anyone who has flown on Alliance Air will vouch for this fact. I strongly feel that rediff.comshould take up this matter and ensure that it is well debated upon and the guilty should be severely punished.

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