Kerala Plane Crash : Runway of Kozhikode Airport is ‘Table-Top’, Landing is Always Risky for Even Most Experienced Pilots

On Aug 8, 2020

Kozhikode : A major plane crash has occurred in Kerala. Where the AI plane flipped onto the runway at Kozhikode Airport. After this, the aircraft broke into two pieces. Actually, Kozhikode airport of Kerala is geographically ‘tabletop’. Which is considered dangerous for landing.

According to DGCA, Air India Express AXB1344, Boeing 737 was coming to Calicut from Dubai. After landing on the runway due to heavy rain, the aircraft slipped and fell into the valley. At the same time, the aircraft broke into two. There were 190 people on board. There were 184 passengers and 6 crew members. Also, 10 children were included in the passengers.

Table-top runway is also believed to be the reason for this accident and geographically, Kozhikode Airport is a ‘table-top’. This means that there is a valley around the runway. There is no more space at the table-top after the runway is over. Due to this, the aircraft fell into the valley after slipping on the runway in Kozhikode.

Due to the valley on either side or one side of the runway, the risk in the table-top runway is very high. Considerable caution is required during both landing and flight. Due to which the pilot also needs to be very efficient. Most table-top runways are built on a plateau or mountain top. Mangalore in Karnataka, Kozhikode Airport in Kerala and Mizoram have table-top runways in India.

A similar incident happened 10 years back when a Dubai to Mangalore flight crashed while attempting a landing on the table-top runway of Mangalore International Airport. 158 people onboard flight were killed while 8 survived, making it one of the most disastrous air crashes in the Indian aviation industry.

At the same time, former Minister of State for Aviation Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the airstrip here is about 9300 feet. If seen from a zero runway, then the airstrip present for landing is about eight-and-a-half thousand feet. In such a situation, when the runway gets wet during the rainy season, the braking that is done is the highest breaking.