"This was not the pilots' first time at Kochi and they know the conditions well," said Gulf Air chief operating officer Captain Nasser Al Salmi.
He said the pilot, who is 35, had been with the airline since 2002 and had experience in flying Airbus A320, 330 and 340.
"He has now been a captain for the last 18 months," Capt Al Salmi told a Press conference at the Gulf Air headquarters in Muharraq.
He said the co-pilot, 37, had joined Gulf Air last year and had
several years' experience with other airlines.
Gulf Daily News » Local News » Pilots hailed for averting tragedy
Funny, last year there were no direct entry first officers hired.... right??? 
What was that famous song by Fleetwood Mac again.........
Anyway, all the best to the crew involved difficult times for all of them. Nothing bad to be said about the flight crew either. What's the saying again: any landing you walk away from alive, is a good landing!
Furthermore, we have absolutely no insight in what happened weather wise. Looks like they could have been taken unexpectedly by freak weather. Let's wait for the final report to be published before some of us here pass judgement. I'm sure none of us aim to be involved in a incident or accident and try our best to avoid it!
@bus aviator, it's already being implemented. DEC's are being hired as we speak. Even though Gulf Air has more than 20 F/O's with more than minimum time required and also a lot of Bahraini's that are on the brink of making minimum time... SO why all these DEC's on the 320?! Very shortly you'll see all the command upgrade assessments slow down because of these DEC's and a growing back log of command "ready" f/o's...
Happy landings all
