Mangalore crash: Hearing reveals huge safety lapses

Mangalore crash: Hearing reveals huge safety lapses

Mangalore Today

Mangalore, August 18, 2010:  Early on May 22, Air India Express flight from Dubai to Mangalore crashed in Mangalore killing 158 people. Seven had survived the crash.  The pilot had overshot the runway at Bajpe, Mangalore and crashed into the valley.

Now emerging - a huge point of concern - that the Air Traffic Control tower got to work just two minutes before the pilot touched down.

He had approached Mangalore half an hour early.  At 6 am, the Air Traffic Control tower got to work and switched on its systems.  The flight from Dubai, IX812, was not expected till 6.30. But this flight routinely comes in early because of high tailwinds in the Dubai-Mangalore sector.  At 6.02 am, the flight landed.  At 6.03 am, it crashed into a valley.

 

The court of enquiry is headed by Retired Air Marshall BN Gokhale.  ’’Apart from the truth, the only thing we want is that there is no blameworthiness attached to it. There will be shortcomings in the system, but it will be important to find them to ensure they are plugged," he said.

Fifty people including some of the seven survivors of the accident will share what they saw and heard as the plane crashed and burst into flames.  Also helping to piece together what happened - Air India ground staff who were on duty, Air Traffic Officials from Mangalore, and those who work at the airport’s Fire Departments.

Day One of the hearing has revealed other major lapses that continue to possibly compromise passenger safety.

One half of the Mangalore "table top"  runway - notoriously tricky because it’s built on a hill top with the sides and ends of the runway sloping down - is not visible from the ATC tower.

Also, the Mangalore Airport Fire Department is short-staffed - there are 30 firefighters, instead of the 40 required - that may have affected the speed of rescue operations that morning.