Crash rekindles memories of 2010 Mangaluru accident

Crash rekindles memories of 2010 Mangaluru accident

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Thiruvananthapuram: 8.8.2020

The accident that happened at Karipur airport on Friday night has striking similarities to the 2010 Mangaluru air crash. In both cases Air India flights met with the disaster and both airports have ‘table-top’ runways, which need adept negotiation skills for the pilot to land.

It was on May 22, 2010 that an Air India Express Boeing 737-800 flight from Dubai to Mangaluru over shot the runway while landing at Bajpe airport and fell into a cliff. Of the 166 passengers on board, only seven survived.

The final conversations between Air traffic control (ATC) and the pilot prior to the landing showed no indication of any distress.

Like the Mangaluru accident, Karipur crash too happened when the flight was attempting to land.

The captain of the aircraft which crashed at Mangaluru, Z Glucia, was an experienced pilot with 10,000 hours of flying experience and had 19 landings at the Mangalore airport. Co-pilot S S Ahluwalia, with 3,000 hours of flying experience had as many as 66 landings at this airport. Both the pilot and co-pilot were among the victims.

An investigation into the accident later found that the cause of the accident was the captain’s failure to discontinue an ‘unstabilised approach’ and his persistence to continue with the landing, despite three calls from the First Officer to ‘go-around’.

Many of the passengers were stranded tourists

Kochi:

Most of the passengers of the aircraft that crashed at Kozhikode on Friday were either stranded tourists or those who lost their jobs. Many of them had been waiting for months to return home. Of the around 190 passengers, 60 were tourists, while at least 25 had returned after being let go by their employers. There were five students, who were stranded following the pandemic, travelling by the flight. Pregnant women, those travelling for medical purposes were also among the passengers. At least two passengers had come back to get married.

Those on vacation also figure among the passengers. TNN