In a tragic accident 19 people were killed when an Air India Express flight bound to Kozhikode from Dubai carrying 190 passengers tried landing on the dangerous table top runaway at the Calicut International Airport on Friday. The torrential rain made it difficult for even the experienced pilots to land the plane as it went down a slope at 7.41PM, bringing back chilling memories of the similar 2010 crash at the table top airport in Mangalore.
The Boeing 737 broke into two killing the flight commander, Deepak V Sathe and co pilot Akhilesh Kumar. The aircraft made two attempts to land in the heavy rain before the third time which resulted in the mishap. This flight was the part of the Vande Bharat repatriation mission.
Expert warned 9 years back that runway 10 of the Kozhikode airport is unsafe for landing.Captain Mohan Ranganathan, member of a safety advisory committee submitted the report to the Ministry of Civil Aviation but his warning went unheeded. Commanding pilot Deepak V Sathe who lost his life on the spot served IAF and won the prestigious NDA Sword of Honour. He was the wing commander in the IAF when he retired ten years back and joined Air India.
AI Express flight mishap leaves 19 killed
