Disasters and accidents

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, "A Dubai-Kozhikode Air India Express flight fell down into the valley after landing at Runway 10 of Karipur Airport & broke down in two pieces. There were 191 people on board. Visibility was 2000 meter and heavy rain at the time of landing." The DGCA has ordered a detailed inquiry into the matter. … [Read more...] about Air India Express plane with 190 onboard skids on runway at Kerala’s Kozhikode airport

The Boeing 737 jet, on a Vande Bharat mission as flight AIX 1344 from Dubai was bringing in Indians who were stranded abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic, met with an accident while landing at the Kozhikode airport in treacherous conditions last Friday, breaking into two — making it one of the deadliest commercial aviation disasters in the country in nearly 10 years. … [Read more...] about No wide-body planes at Kozhikode airport during monsoon: Aviation regulator

Apparently anxious to project an image of normalcy, the Ministry allowed the airport to restart flights in a day, while the accident cause was yet to be ascertained. If rainy conditions existed during the landing, as Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said, these may persist during the rest of the monsoon. Each flight must, therefore, be considered for a potential diversion to a safe airport nearby in bad weather. Significantly, the admission by the DGCA that the key recommendation of runway extension at Kozhikode made almost a decade ago was not possible due to land acquisition issues — although the facility could still support wide-bodied aircraft — strengthens the view that corners may have been cut on safety. The instance of an Air India Express plane suffering a tail strike in the same airport last year should have led to a full assessment, following up on the recommendations made after the 2010 crash in Mangaluru. Since the visible cause of Friday’s … [Read more...] about Safety deficit: On Kozhikode plane crash