Gentlemen...
Gentlemen...
My first time on this forum.
I have read these posts with abject (but not altogether surprising) unease. I fly for a European airline and on the many occasions that I've flown into BOM or DEL, I have certainly seen AI's procedures from close quarters.
From my perspective, the majority of AI pilots are extremely competent professionals. Indeed, some years ago in Seattle for a 744 refresher, I met a couple of AI gents...very competent indeed (procedurally and through demeanour). Every airline has "bad eggs", some more than others.
However, one thing I have seen is that AI takes shortcuts a lot. At my airline, we have extremely strict procedures on line assessment, review, refresher and procedure training. Based on what I know through discussions with AI commanders, FO's and SFO's, there is a "shortcut" mentality, permeating every area of flight crew assessment. I think this needs to be addressed.
I have met Capt. Bhasin and Capt. D. Anand before at BOM. Both struck me as being top-grade flyers. But of course, I don't work for AI, so don't know the internal politics!