It becomes very difficult for pilots if there is a cliff, especially when it is raining. If a pilot fails to find out right landing spot, it can result in the plane overshooting the runway.
After an Air India Express flight from Dubai carrying 190 people skidded off a tabletop runway in heavy rain and broke into pieces on Friday evening at Kozhikode airport in Kerala, 18 people including both pilots succumbed to death. The incident brought back memories of the flight accident in Mangaluru in 2010. For similarity, both the airports had tabletop runways.
Tabletop runways are often challenging and considered tricky even for the most qualified pilots. Tabletop runaways are usually built over a hill after levelling the surface. The Kozhikode airport has a tabletop runway. It is located on the top of a plateau with one or both ends adjacent to a steep precipice that drops into a gorge. Owing to the similar safety issues, many international airlines had stopped flying bigger aircraft such as the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 into this airport.
It becomes very difficult for pilots if there is a cliff, especially when it is raining. If a pilot fails to find out right landing spot, it can result in the plane overshooting the runway.
A similar incident took place in Mangaluru in 2010, when a flight returning from Dubai crashed while attempting to land on the tabletop runway. 158 persons on board were killed in that crash, while 8 survived.
Yesterday, this flight IX-1344 of Air India Express under the Vande Bharat Mission reached Kozhikode from Dubai. The plane skidded off the runway and fell into 50 feet deep valley breaking into two pieces. As per reports, there were heavy rains at the time of the plane’s landing. This caused the skidding of the plane from the runway. As per survivors, the Pilot warned them before landing. He even tried to land the plane with safety twice but was unsuccessful. However, experts say that it was the skill of Pilot Sathe that the plane did not go up in flame after the crash. This saved many lives.
The crash landing killed 18 people, including 2 pilots. 127 are undergoing treatment while the condition of 15 is critical. The aircraft had a total of 190 people, 128 men, 46 women, 10 children and 6 crew members.
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