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AN Indian co-pilot sent an international passenger jet into a terrifying nosedive when he adjusted his seat and accidentally pushed the control column forward... The captain only saved the Boeing 737 aircraft after using an emergency code to get through the cockpit door and ...When the captain, 39, got back into the cockpit, he shouted, "What are you doing?" The plane fell 610m before the captain got back into the cockpit - and another 1520mt as he struggled with the panicking co-pilot. "There was application of opposite force by pilot and co-pilot on control column,"... Four days earlier, another Air...

The only person convicted in the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people off the coast of Ireland has been found guilty of perjury during the trial. The British Columbia Supreme Court jury found Inderjit Singh Reyat guilty of lying under oath during his testimony in the trial against his alleged co-conspirators in the plot. Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik were acquitted of first-degree murder and conspiracy in 2005 after a trial lasting almost two years. The maximum sentence for perjury is 14 years in jail, but sentences are more routinely in the range of two to...

A miffed Air India management has slapped a notice on aircraft manufacturing major Boeing demanding compensation of about $ 1 billion (about Rs 4,600 crore) for the persistent delay on deliveries of planes. AI had placed an order for 27 B-787 Dreamliners. According to the original schedule, the first such aircraft was to be delivered in September 2008 followed by one each in each of the subsequent months. By March 2011, Boeing was scheduled to have delivered 18 of these premium aircraft to India’s state-owned carrier. It now appears, however, that the first of these aircraft will arrive only in...

Sujata Survase, the 25-year-old Air India air hostess from Mumbai who lost her life in the Mangalore crash on Saturday, chillingly enough seemed to have had a hunch about the impending tragedy. Her last status update on a social networking site said: "I hate goodbyes but I guess it's time." Sujata, who lived in Andheri, had a BA degree in philosophy from Bhavan's College, Andheri. According to her networking profile, she believed in Buddhist philosophy, loved dancing to hip hop, swore by the television show Friends and hated books, which she mischievously described as "good sleeping pills". The young woman,...

Here is an updated video report on the crash of an Air India Express 737 en route from Dubai to Mangalore, India. Current information puts the death toll at 159, with seven survivors. The plane overshot the runway, and one survivor said he heard a "loud explosion" just before the plane hit the ground. He also said he saw a "hole on the left side of the plane." Indian officials are saying that weather had nothing to do with the crash. They also are sayin they believe the cause was "pilot error." The report shows the first image of a...

All 169 people on board were feared killed when a passenger plane overshot the runway in southern India and crashed early Saturday, an official said.

NEW DELHI — Indian airports were on high alert Friday after intelligence services received information that Al Qaeda-linked militants were plotting to hijack a plane. Such an attack would be the first major terror strike against India since 10 militants rampaged through the city of Mumbai for three days in November 2008, killing 166 people. Aviation spokeswoman Moushumi Chakravarty said that the airports were placed on alert Thursday after the government received warnings from the intelligence agencies.(continued)

In a major security breach, an Indian national working as a cleaner at Medina airport in Saudi Arabia managed to travel on an Air India flight, carrying 273 Haj pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to India, hiding in the toilet of the aircraft. Habib Hussain, 26, from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, told the police that the contractor who employed him there had taken away his passport and harassed him. Finding no other way out to return home, he sneaked into the Air India flight to Jaipur. Habib's presence came to light about half an hour after the flight took off...

Former Boeing instructor pilot Anthony Keyter has filed a federal civil lawsuit against Boeing, alleging that the Chicago-based aerospace company plotted to murder him. Boeing test pilot Anthony Keyter says that Boeing plotted to kill him. The lawsuit indicates that Keyter lives in Gig Harbor and that he is representing himself. The suit, filed Monday with the U.S. District Court of Western Washington, charges that Boeing plotted to kill Keyter after Keyter filed another civil complaint against President George W. Bush. "President Bush, via his agents, contacted high level executives of The Boeing Company and initiated a criminal plot to...

MUMBAI: US aircraft manufacturer Boeing on Wednesday said it would compensate Air India for the delay in the delivery of Dreamliner 787 aircraft to the Indian carrier. "We will compensate Air India for the delay in the delivery of Dreamliners," Boeing Senior Vice-President Dinesh Keskar told reporters on the sidelines of an aviation summit. In 2005, the national carrier had placed orders with Boeing for 68 aircraft costing $11.6 billion. Of the 68 aircraft, 27 are Dreamliners. The first Dreamliner was scheduled to be delivered by end-this year, but the deliveries are now expected to be delayed. "There have been...

Air India Starts Talks With Boeing, Airbus; Eyes A380-Sources September 21, 2007: 01:52 AM EST NEW DELHI -(Dow Jones)- State-owned Air India has begun talks with Boeing Co. (BA) and Airbus to buy new planes including the A380 superjumbo, people familiar with the development said Friday. In July, Air India said it plans to buy about 60 new passenger jetliners over the next few years and aims to start the selection and purchase process by mid- August. "The airline is in touch with both Boeing and Airbus on the types of aircraft available and what will be required in the...

THE SIKH EDUCATIONAL TRUST Box 60246 University of Alberta Postal Outlet EDMONTON, AB T6G 2S5 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SIKH AFFAIRS (An official organ of The Sikh Educational Trust) The Editor Letters to The Edmonton Journal and Letters, The National Post Canada 9th May, 2007 Dear Sir, AIR INDIA FLIGHT 182 (TORONTO – MONTREAL – LONDON – DELHI), 23rd JUNE, 1985: ENQUIRY OF JUSTICE JOHN MAJOR My writing to you relates with some minor and major comments related to the subject, and also on “Air India’s Shared Tragedy Lost in the ‘SILOS’ between two nations by George Abraham (The Edmonton Journal,...

The Air India bombing inquiry has been told of a hint of coming disaster 11 days before Canada's worst mass murder. A former Vancouver police officer, Don McLean, testified Tuesday at the inquiry in Ottawa about an exchange between two men he described as Sikh militants on June 12, 1985. He quoted the first as saying: "No consuls have been killed. No ambassadors have been killed. What are you going to do? Nothing?" The reply, he said, was: "You will see something be done in two weeks." The conversation took place in the basement of the Vancouver-area home of a...

A court in India has sentenced to death seven men convicted of attacking the American cultural centre in Calcutta in January 2002. Those convicted include Aftab Ahmed Ansari, who the judge said had planned the attack in which five policemen were killed and nearly 20 others injured. Two other men were acquitted for lack of evidence. The attack heightened tensions in South Asia, coming just weeks after a bloody raid on India's parliament. India accused Pakistan of having a link to both attacks which was strongly denied by Islamabad. Although India still supports the death penalty it is rarely carried...

Where would we be if we did not have Liberals to remind us Canadians are racists? Take the ongoing Air India inquiry and this gem from Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh. "Maybe it's harsh coming from me at this day and age," the former Liberal cabinet minister said recently. "But I genuinely believe if you had 329 white, Anglo-Saxons killed in an Air India disaster, you would have had an inquiry in no time. I've never spoken so harshly before, but that's the truth and Canadians have to, we have to, confront that truth." Nonsense. The reason it took so long...

What Rajiv Gandhi told Canada PM after A-I blast May 03, 2007 09:54 IST In a phone call just after the bombing of the Air India plane in 1985, then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had asked his Canadian counterpart why all the baggage on the flight was not removed and rechecked in Montreal when three pieces were found to be suspicious. Gandhi had suggested to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney that Canada had breached international procedures by not re-screening the luggage on Flight 182. Details of the emotionally-charged exchange were revealed on Wednesday in declassified government documents released at the...

Non-stop US flights: AI to buy planes Saurabh Sinha [26 Apr, 2007 l 0237 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK] NEW DELHI: The Maharaja is not satisfied with the 68 new generation aircraft it had ordered earlier. Air India's top officials have begun deliberations to see how many more Boeing 777-200 long range (LR) aircraft it would need for direct Indo-US services. This stems from two reaons — the airline now anticipates higher passenger traffic and wants to connect more US cities like Washington and Houston to India. "From June we will launch non stop India-US flights on the Boeing 777-200 long...

Harper pulls some Liberal whiskers Only possible recourse of the Dion crowd is to scream in unison at the PM Lorne Gunter, The Edmonton Journal Published: Friday, February 23, 2007 So the Liberals are outraged at Prime Minister Stephen Harper? I'm not surprised. No one manufactures outrage better than they do. Did the PM go too far in the House of Commons Wednesday when he (almost) raised the possibility that the Liberals' recent opposition to Canada's anti-terror laws was motivated by the self- interest of one of their own rising-star MPs? Probably. Yet, the Liberals also responded too unanimously...

India sets sights on cruise missile market By Siddharth Srivastava NEW DELHI - Long considered among the top importing nations for defense hardware, India is now looking to access the fast-growing international market for cruise missiles, considered a lethally efficient weapon. US forces used almost 1,000 such missiles when they first entered Iraq in 2003, and the total worldwide market is expected to be more than US$10 billion in the next decade. An inventory of more than 80,000 such missiles is estimated already to exist around the world. Indian Defense Minister A K Anthony has said New Delhi is holding...

LONDON: A British company on Wednesday launched a specially-designed stainless steel "anti-terror" cutlery range for use on board aircraft. Arthur Price cutlery manufacturers and retailers claimed to be the first firm to design such a set, targeted for use by Business Class customers who expect better than plastic cutlery. The knives, forks and spoons have been created to exact specifications based on new British Department for Transport guidelines amid heightened security fears. The knives have a rounded rather than a sharp end and measure no longer than 2.36 inches, while the forks have prongs no longer than three centimetres. Air-India...

India's national airline, Air India, is to take action against 14 crew members for allegedly stealing alcohol from the prime minister's plane. The incident is said to have taken place in April during a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Germany. Angry officials from the civil aviation ministry had questioned why it took Air India so long to report the incident accusing them of a "cover-up". The BBC's Sunil Raman says it is now being seen as a major security breach. During the visit last April, the prime minister's security detail on board India's equivalent of Air Force One...

MUMBAI/ BOMBAY: In the largest commercial airplane order in India's civil aviation history, national carrier Air-India today signed an agreement with US aerospace firm Boeing for purchase of 68 modern aircraft at an estimated cost of Rs 35,000 crore. The agreement was signed between Air-India Chairman V Thulasidas and Boeing Commercial Airplane President and CEO Alan Mulally in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel at the Air-India office in south Mumbai. Air-India's order consists of 23 Boeing 777s, including eight Boeing 777-200 LR (longer range) worldliners and 15 777-300 ERs (extended range), and 27 787-8 Boeing dreamliners. Besides,...

Breaking local news is showing the Air India 747 parked on runway with local Los Angeles Fire Department on scene. The 747 left LAX and on takeoff had multiple tire blow-outs leaving debris on the runway. The 747 flew out over the ocean, dumped fuel and then returned to LAX. No injuries are reported while they are waiting for passengers to be led off the plane.

NEW DELHI: Air India, the country's flag carrier, will begin receiving the first of its 35 mint new Boeing aircraft from 2006, with the last plane being delivered in 2013. Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday announced the cabinet's approval of Air India's fleet expansion plans and said a group of ministers would work out the pricing with the manufacturer "in as quick a period as possible". In addition, subsidiary Air India Charters Limited that operates the no-frills Air India Express, will start taking delivery of the first of its 18 new Boeings from 2006 and the process will be...

NEW DELHI: In a new twist to the controversy over the purchase of aircraft by the Air-India at an estimated cost of over $7 billion, Europe-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus has sough fresh evaluation for the 18 189-seater planes that have been selected for Air-India Express, a fully-owned subsidiary of the national carrier. In a letter to the airline, Airbus has said that selection of aircraft should be done on a typical low-cost configuration. A-I had evaluated the deal on a two-class configuration but finally chose to buy the 18 planes with an all-economy configuration. The Maharajah has favoured purchase of...

With Air-India eyeing the Texas market for its newest on-ground hub, Houston and Dallas are engaged in an aerial dogfight to determine which city will land the India's national airline. Houston has an advantage in demographics with 120,000 residents of Indian descent, and aviation officials in the city estimate that bringing Air-India to Bush Intercontinental Airport would generate at least $200 million in economic benefits to the area. The Houston Business Journal, however, quoted John Massey, manager of Air-India's marketing programme in New York City as saying that "Right now, there are no definite plans." "There are no formal decisions...

France's Indian Airbus Overreaction Causes Other Trouble Posted online: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, MAY 17: The first victim of Airbus Industrie losing out to Boeing on Air-India’s recent Rs 30,000-crore deal may be none other than the much-delayed $1.8-billion deal to acquire French Scorpene submarines. BrideGroom 18-2526-3031-3536-4546-5099-50 The government, which was expected to clear the deal earlier this month for the Indian Navy, now seems to have put it off for some more time. Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee told FE, "There are some problems in the Scorpene deal and we are looking into them."...

Patel: No probe into A-I for Boeing order TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2005 01:10:42 AM ] NEW DELHI: Civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Thursday gave Air-India a clean chit in the controversy surrounding its nearly USD 7-billion aircraft order for Boeing jets. Responding to a query in Parliament, Patel said government is not ordering an enquiry into charges of foul play made by Airbus Industrie, which lost A-I order to American rival Boeing. "The allegations made by Airbus regarding A-I's selection of Boeing aircraft for purchase are baseless and not based on facts," Patel said in a...

Reid Morden, the Canadian spy working with Paul Volcker on the independent UN inquiry into the oil-for-food scandal, is the CEO who was at the helm of the Canadian Security Investigation Services (CSIS) when most of the 300 tapes and wiretaps, collected both before and after the 1985 crash of Air India Flight 182, were destroyed. Some feel that the destroyed tapes and wiretaps were crucial evidence that could have led to a guilty charge in the trial of the accused on the crash of Flight 182. CSIS, Canada’s top spy agency, has always maintained that the destroyed tapes had...

India has expressed its displeasure at the insinuation by French envoy Dominique Girard about Air-India's decision to purchase aircraft from Boeing. Foreign secretary Shyam Sharan used a scheduled meeting with the French ambassador for a reproof to him. Sources say Girard was on the defensive and claimed he had been misquoted. Acknowledging the meeting, the MEA spokesperson said: "The foreign secretary drew his attention to the press reports and told him that if these reports were correct, the French ambassador's remarks were not in keeping with diplomatic propriety." Sharan's annoyance reflected the deep resentment within government over Girard's outburst over...

VANCOUVER: In a disappointment to relatives of the victims of the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people, Canadian prosecutors have decided not to appeal against the acquittal of two main accused in the case. An e-mail sent by the Crown to relatives of the victims said: "Members of the prosecution team, senior members of the Criminal Justice (Branch), have conducted an exhaustive review and have come to the difficult decision that there are no grounds on which the Crown could launch an appeal," media reports here said today. A spokesman for the Crown would not comment. Justice Ian...

Disappointed over Air-India's decision to buy 50 aircrafts from Boeing and not Airbus Industrie, France feels that "some factors other than commercial" have influenced the deal. French Ambassador to India, Dominique Girard, still hopes India will consider "comprehensive factors" while going for 126 fighter planes for the Air Force in which French jet Mirage will be competing. "We are surprised and disappointed. Airbus definitely has an advantage over Boeing," Girard told the agency in New Delhi when asked to comment on the recent decision by India's international carrier to purchase planes from the American company. He claimed that Boeing would...

Boeing defends A-I deal; blasts AirbusOnkar Singh in New Delhi | May 04, 2005 15:50 IST Dinesh A Keskar, senior vice president (sales and commercial airplanes), Boeing, strongly defended the deal between Air-India and Boeing for the purchase of 50 787 A, Dreamliner 777-200 Long Range and 777-3000 Extended Range aircraft. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Keskar claimed that no political pressure was used to clinch the deal against the French rival Airbus Industrie who was also in contention to bag the prestigious order. Keskar said: "It is absolutely incredible that Airbus is questioning Air-India's evaluation (for purchase...

NEW DELHI, April 28 (AFP) - European Aircraft giant Airbus Industrie has cried foul over state-run Air India's decision to buy 50 Boeing jets, saying it was denied a chance to show off its new A380 superjumbo, as analysts said politics influenced the decision. Airbus urged the Indian government to order a new tender after Air India approved Tuesday the purchase of up to 50 Boeing planes worth USD 7 billion, the US plane-maker's second big win this week. Air India's purchase decision capped a year of high-profile lobbying by Boeing and Airbus executives and politicians from the United States...

Cheered by tens of thousands of onlookers, the world's largest passenger plane touched down with puffs of smoke from its 22 outsize wheels. And thus ended a historic maiden flight, where it began, on a runway outside Toulouse, southwest France. The Airbus A380's four-hour sortie on Wednesday over the snowcapped Pyrenees, capped with a showy fly-past, removed any doubt that the behemoth capable of carrying up to 840 passengers can fly. But it did little to convince skeptics, led by US rival Boeing Co, that it can make money for the European aircraft maker. About 30,000 people watched the takeoff...

BANGALORE, India, April 26 - Air India, India's flagship carrier, said Tuesday that it would order 50 aircraft from the Boeing Company in a deal worth $6.9 billion, a sale that had also been keenly pursued by its rival, Airbus Industrie. In a statement, the government-owned Air India said its order included 27 of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners, its fuel-efficient model in development, with seating for 200 to 300 passengers. The 787 competes with Airbus's A350, and is expected to come into service in 2008. Air India also ordered 15 of the 737 medium-range aircraft and 8 of the 777...

Air-India approves $6.9 bln purchase of BOMBAY, April 26 (Reuters) India's international carrier, Air-India [AI.UL], approved on Tuesday the purchase of up to 50 long-range and medium-range Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) aircrafts at a cost of about 300 billion rupees ($6.9 billion).See links for story

This would, probably, be the biggest corporate victory for the US in India. State-owned behemoth Air-India is planning to award its over $6 billion mega order for purchasing 50 aircraft to the US-based aircraft-maker Boeing. Together with its low-cost start-up A-I Express — which has already selected Boeing for its comparatively smaller $1-billion order for 18 planes, this would make the biggest order bagged by any single aircraft manufacturer in recent times. If the Cabinet clears the order, it will be the strongest message yet to the US that India is willing to play hard for great power stakes. Washington’s...

Vancouver — A day after he was acquitted of the worst mass murder in Canada's history, Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik is once again dealing with the police. However this time, he is the victim of crime. Five men broke into his downtown clothing business early yesterday morning. A surveillance camera at the business caught the men on tape and the security system registered when they came in and when they left. A fire broke out before 6 a.m. yesterday. Vancouver police, who seized the surveillance tapes, indicated the men were "street people," Mr. Malik's son Jaspreet said yesterday in...

Inquiry calls in Air India case Canadian families of the victims of the Air India jet bombing in 1985 have called for a public inquiry following the acquittal of the two main suspects. The authorities "owe it to the 329 victims of this crime," said Eddie Madon, after the judge in Vancouver found two Canadian Sikhs not guilty. The trial has cost least $100m, and has been one of the most complex cases in Canadian history. Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan said there was no point in an inquiry. "There will be, tragically, some questions that may very well not...

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 Email this to a friend print this page Malik, Bagri not guilty in bombing of Air India Flight 182 full image Ajaib Singh Bagri leaves B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday in Vancouver, B.C., with his daughter. (CP PHOTO/ Richard Lam) VANCOUVER (CP) - Two Sikh men were acquitted Wednesday in the deaths of 329 people who perished when Air India Flight 182 was brought down by a bomb 20 years ago in Canada's worst case of mass murder. Justice Ian Josephson of the B.C. Supreme Court found Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty...

Just came off the wire - not guilty for Malik.

India and America enter into new Open Skies agreement that will allow private airlines of India to fly to US bringing travel price down rapidly India and US signed a historic open sky agreement that will have remarkable impact on civil aviation between the two countries. US Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel negotiated the Open Skies aviation pact. This pact replaces a fifty-year-old pact and according to US officials will create many aviation jobs in both India and America. Open Skies agreement provides freedom to the airlines of both the countries from all restrictions...