I flew for AIE 2005-6 and can confirm that it was a dangerous outfit and a crash waiting to happen.They didnt understand flying and the guy in charge was a 777 pilot who knew nothing and cared even less of the 73 operation.They used the QAR unethically,busted FTL's and indulged in nepotism/favoritism even when it came to passing checks etc.
Like someone said already,as with all ASIAN carriers it was strictly rote flying;AP ON at 500 on TO,SOP call-outs verbatim(the be-all and end-all of their entire operation),AP OFF and AT disarm @ 500 on landing.No visual approaches(or maybe the type with AP and LNAV engaged!),magenta line monkey-see monkey-do flying.I remember they called a chap in after downloading the QAR for hand-flying without FD and warned him.I heard after I left that they started to tire of EURO-Yank expats and so brought in a whole bunch of Yugoslavs who were "easier" to mould to their way of thinking.GA's were ASR-mandatory.So is it any wonder that it all ended in a smoking wreck at the end of Mangalore runway?The real dilemna here is that there must be a a hundred AIE's operating around the world and the only thing that saves them from a smoking hole in the ground each and every week is the robustness and reliability of Boeing/Airbus products.Plus the fact that they practically fly by themselves and dont really need pilots up front but just 2 pavlov dogs..or better still,2 monkeys.Passing x feet,press that button there,passing y feet operate this switch here...