The issue of plane crash and runway security came into limelight after the unfortunate incident in Kerala. An Air India Express Aircraft IX-1344 which was travelling from Dubai to Kozhikode, Kerala with 191 onboard skidded during landing resulting in massive damage to the Plane and the passengers. The incident happened due to overshoot. 18 people including pilot and co-pilot lost their lives in the incident and more than one hundred people got injured. The plane was divided into two pieces in the accident. The flight was operating under the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indians stranded abroad because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a detailed inquiry into this matter. A team from Boeing, the manufacturer of the plane will be in India next week to help in the investigation process and will visit the crash site as well. Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is an independent separate agency designated by the Government of India to investigate aircraft incidents. The report of this incident is expected to come within a few weeks.
Several questions have arisen about the reason for the occurrence and the liability of the same. As we know the weather condition on the very day was not good and it was raining on the occurrence site so the runway was wet and this may be the reason. Runway was wet and this may be the reason for the accident. Some experts are saying that there was negligence on the part of the pilot. The pilots of the plane that crashed were alerted about the bad weather condition in the area. Director of DGCA, Arun Kumar, said that they were also informed about the tailwinds, which were within permissible limits. But the real reason would be known after the investigation. Some people are questioning the DGCA negligence. DGCA Director said that Air Traffic Control (ATC) had alerted the aircraft rescue team and fire-fighters and they responded immediately. He also said that the tabletop runway of Kozhikode was audited and fully functional. Also black boxes have been recovered from the crashed flight. The Cockpit voice recorder is recovered from the wreckage of an Indian passenger aircraft. Flight recorder is an electronic device placed in the aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents. Last year DGCA had warned about the security issues of the Airport by issuing a show-cause notice to the Airport Director. The plane of Air India that crashed while landing in Kerala was 13 years old. Another reason for the accident may be that the Kozhikode runway is a tabletop runway. The tabletop runway is a runway which is located on top of a plateau or hill with one or both ends adjacent to a steep precipice which drops into a deep gorge. This type of runway creates an optical illusion which requires a very precise approach by the pilot with little to no room for errors. Such runways are often considered as tricky for landings because of lack of any margin for overshooting the runway. Kozhikode plane crash has put focus on the tabletop runways again. In the accident the front door of the flight was completely damaged. So there requires more attention to the aviation issues. Sometimes voices raised against the system are suppressed by the Authority. There is a recent example. In the month of June, 2020, a pilot Gaurav Taneja alleged the Airline to ask its pilots to do 98% of landing in ‘FLAP 3’ mode which allows it to save fuel. He said if a pilot does not do 98% of landing in ‘FLAP 3’ mode, the airline considers it a violation of its standard operating procedure. Gaurav Taneja was suspended by AirAsia for this. Flaps are the part of an aircraft and they are engaged to create a drag during a landing or a take-off.
It is generally difficult to determine soon whose liability arises in a particular aviation accident. The safety of a flight depends on several things like interconnection systems, pilot training and experience, mechanical maintenance, structural integrity of the aircraft. So the issue of liability is complex. Why doesn’t Government take steps and give attention to such airports to think over. UDAN is an airport development scheme of Government of India. This scheme is a key component of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Civil Aviation Policy. Under this scheme the Government should work to make the runway of different airport better.
WHAT ARE TABLETOP RUNWAYS?
They are generally constructed by chopping off hilltops, which creates a plateau or a tabletop. They may have steep precipices on either side that drop into deep gorges.
Rajeev Ranjan @ Samacharline