Hyderabad: At least 18 people were killed after an Air India Express flight with 190 people on board overshot the tabletop runway at the Kozhikode airport while landing in heavy rains and fell into a valley dozens of feet below and broke into two portions.
With this accidents, concerns have once again been raised about the safety of tabletop runways, which are present at as many as five airports in India.
WHAT IS A TABLETOP RUNWAY?
A tebletop runway is one where the landing strip is on top of a flattened hill, with one or both ends adjacent to a steep elevation which drops into a gorge. The peculiar topography of the airports usually make these runways short.
CHALLENGES WHILE LANDING AT SUCH RUNWAYS
Landing at tabletop runways are considered tougher as they create an optical illusion which requires a very precise approach. The pilot makes the approach with visual reference changes, which requires the pilot to guard against taking the aircraft either too high or low on the approach.
During the last stage of the landing, the pilot has to rely more on his/her interface with the machine, rather than a totally automated machine. Further, the length the airport, if short, impairs the pilot's ability to handle the aircraft.
Read:Before crash-landing, AI pilots aborted two landings due to tailwind
TABLETOP RUNWAYS IN INDIA:
- Lengpui airport in Mizoram
- Pakyong airport in Sikkim
- Shimla airport in Himachal Pradesh
- Kozhikode airport in Kerala
- Mangaluru airport in Karnataka
EERIE SIMILARITY WITH MANGALORE TRAGEDY
The Kozhikode mishap has an eerie similarity with the 2010 Mangalore crash. Like Kozhikode, Mangalore too has a tabletop runway, and even in that incident, the plane had broken into two pieces.
On May 22, 2010, an Air India Express flight 812, a Boeing 737-800 , slid off the runway killing 158 people. Miraculously however, eight people survived the crash.
DGCA NOTICE TO KOZHIKODE AIRPORT
In July 2019, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had served a notice to the Kozhikode airport after an audit revealed safety concerns over 'excessive rubber deposits' - an occurrence that poses even higher risks in times of rains. The DGCA's report had also found cracks and stagnating water on the runway.
Read:At least 18 dead as AI flight skids off runway, falls into valley in Kozhikode
ACCIDENTS AT KOZHIKODE AIRPORT
- November 7, 2008: An Air India Airbus 310 flight AI 962 flying from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, scraped its right wing tip on the runway on landing. Parts of the plane's wing broke, leaving a mark on the runway.
- July 9, 2007: An Air India Express Boeing 737-800 skidded on landing, during heavy rain. The aircraft's landing gear impacted with runway beacons, breaking them.
- April 25, 2017: An Air India A321-200 suffered an engine failure during takeoff, resulting in a left tyre burst. The takeoff was aborted and flight cancelled.
- August 4, 2017: A SpiceJet Bombardier Dash 8 skidded on landing and damaged the ILS beacons.
