An aviation expert quickly pushed back on "Fox & Friends" host Brian Kilmeade for blaming India's government for the deadly crash of a jumbo jet.
Frequent guest Mike Boyd appeared Thursday morning on the Fox News program to discuss the latest details on the Air India flight crash that killed all 242 people on board shortly after takeoff from the Indian city of Ahmedabad en route to London, and Kilmeade suggested the tragedy could have been "intentional," reported The Daily Beast.
“If you can visualize in your mind, taking off, getting to 625 [feet] and then going straight down to the ground," Kilmeade said, as producers rolled a video of the disaster. "Is that intentional? Is that one of the things that pops into your mind?”
Boyd conceded that was possible but said a "power failure" was more likely, and Kilmeade later asked whether Boeing, Air India or even the Indian authorities could be to blame.
“[A] 787 Dreamliner, it’s a Boeing plane," Kilmeade said. "Now, when you buy a Boeing plane, whether you are Delta, United, Air France, when does it become the responsibility? When do these different airlines put their stamp on that plane? I’m Boeing and I sell it to you. It’s up to Air India to maintain it, number one, and maybe some different countries or airlines decide to put their own emblem, their own rules and regulations to it, correct?”
Boyd agreed and allowed that there were great difference between India's transportation system and that of the U.S., but shut down the suggestion that the government was at fault.
"The Indian transportation system is a Wild West, marketing-wise," Boyd said. "In terms of safety, that’s always been there."
“The airline’s imprint on that airplane is basically when they order the thing because they are working with Boeing on how to spec it out," the aviation expert added. "Air India has been with this airplane probably since they signed the order document. From that perspective, I don’t think we have to look at maybe India being sloppy. In fact, India is not sloppy.”