The Aviation regulator of India DGCA had issued a show-cause notice to the director of the Kozhikode airport last year after it found "various critical safety lapses". While the aviation authority pointed to cracks on the runway, water stagnation and excessive rubber deposits among other lapses in its show-cause notice, 9 years ago, DGCA warned of a possible accident similar to the yesterday's incident.
A report by CNN-IBN (now CNN-News18) 9 years ago exposed that the runway of Calicut International Airport (Kozhikode airport) was not safe. A committee from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Air India met the then Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to assess the safety issues at the Calicut International Airport.
The report accessed by CNN-IBN in 2011 warned that there's a chance of a incident similar to that of May 22, 2010 Mangalore flight crash killing 158 people on board. While a 240-meter buffer area beyond the runway is required in case the aircraft overshoots the runway, Calicut airport doesn't have even the minimum 90 meters.
And that's exactly what happened on Friday when an Air India Express flight from Dubai to Calicut flying under the Vande Bharat Mission overshot the runway and fell 35-ft below breaking up on impact.
Tabletop runways are known for being difficult to land a aircraft even for the best of the commercial pilots. A tabletop runway is essentially a runway built over a hill by leveling the surface. These high altitude runways have a steep drop either on one side or both sides.
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If there's a cliff, like in the case of Kozhikode crash, pilots have be extra careful to stop the plane at the right distance. However, in rainy weather, situation becomes tricky and often poses challenge for the pilots to understand the correct landing spot, which leads to plane overshooting the runway.
The pilot of the flight was a former Air Force Pilot who also flew Airbus 310 for Air India before moving to Air India Express flying the Boeing 737. Captain Sathe has won 'Sword of Honour' at AFA, was accomplished fighter pilot, and was HAL test pilot too.
With Inputs from Agencies
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