Kerala Air India Express plane crash: Five Indian airports have tabletop runways
New Delhi: The Air Indian Express aircraft crash on the runway of the Kozhikode airport (Kerala) on August 7 has now raised questions over the landings on the tabletop runways.
The tabletop runways are identified for his or her excessive challenges for the pilots attributable to their building on elevated terrains.
These runways that principally have somewhat area for last-minute manoeuvre have witnessed two Air India Express planes crash touchdown in little over a decade.
Notably, at the very least 5 airports throughout India, together with Kozhikode, have tabletop runways.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Arvind Singh informed PTI information company that there are 4 tabletop runways which can be operated by AAI.
These are at Kozhikode, Mangalore (Karnakata), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) and Pakyong (Sikkim).
On the opposite hand, the Lengpui airport in Mizoram additionally has a tabletop runaway and is operated by the state authorities.
The State-owned AAI operates 137 aerodromes, together with those by way of joint ventures.
A senior Air India pilot mentioned that automation may not assist in the case of tabletop runways. There can be the problem of optical phantasm, the place the runway would possibly appear to be nearer whereas it will really be additional away, he added.
The pilot additionally pressured that there’s not a lot buffer zone, not like regular runways.
There are tabletop runways in numerous components of the world and solely when the runway size is much less, there may very well be points with the touchdown of plane.
In the case of Kozhikode airport, the runway is about 9,000 ft which is sort of lengthy, in line with a senior regulatory official.
According to the official, pilots are typically informed about such runways and numerous restrictions.
In the Court of Inquiry report concerning the aircraft crash at Mangalore airport in May 2010, it was talked about that there have been three tabletop airports within the nation from the place scheduled flights function at Mangalore, Kozhikode and Lengpui.
“Because of the undulating terrain and constraints of space, these airfields require extra skill and caution while carrying out flight operations. The hazard of undershooting and overshooting, in particular, can lead to grave situations, as was the case in this accident,” the report had mentioned.
It had additionally mentioned that tabletop runways have an issue of entry roads across the airfield, which can must be utilized in case of plane accidents.
Citing ICAO knowledge, the report had additionally mentioned that a lot of the accidents happen throughout touchdown and take-off phases, with a lot of runway excursions and plane overrunning into the overshoot space.
“Considering the big momentum of those plane, a downward slope within the overrun space can worsen the end result. It is due to this fact really helpful that such downward slopes as acquiring in Mangalore be dropped at the identical stage of the runway floor.
“This also needs to be ensured at all tabletop airports in the country,” the report had mentioned.
Regarding the Air India Express aircraft crash on Friday, the AAI mentioned it had touched down round 1,000 metres from the start of the runway on the Kozhikode airport earlier than breaking apart into two items.
The Boeing 737-800 plane whereas touchdown overshot the runway and went down 35 ft right into a slope earlier than breaking apart into two items. The pilot of the flight — IX-1344 — couldn’t sight the runway within the first touchdown try attributable to heavy rains.
An AAI spokesperson mentioned that runway 28 was in use and within the first touchdown try the pilot couldn’t sight the runway and requested for runway 10.
The pilot then steered the aircraft to runway 10 and got here from the opposite facet, in line with an AAI official.
Citing data from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC), the spokesperson mentioned the plane touched down close to taxiway ‘C’, which is roughly 1,000 metres from the start of runway 10. The complete size of the runway is 2,700 metres.
The spokesperson additionally mentioned that it was raining over the airfield and reported visibility on the time of touchdown was 2,000 metres.
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