New Delhi, 0 August 8: A ‘Tabletop runway’ is believed to be the biggest cause for the crash of Air India aircraft which was bringing back stranded passengers from Dubai under ‘Vande Bharat Mission’.
Landing of aircraft is generally considered dangerous at such an airport. Due to heavy rains, there was waterlogging on the runway, which caused the plane to go ahead of the runway and fall into a 35 feet trench and divided into two pieces.
In this accident, 16 people, including the pilot, were killed.
When the Air India Express plane was landing at Kozhikode Airport, heavy rain caused waterlogging on the runway, whereby, the plane went ahead of the runway and fell into 35 feet deep trench and divided into two parts.
The runway of this airport in Kerala is like a ‘tabletop’ ie the valley around the runway of this airport. In such a situation there is no more space after the tabletop runway is over, hence the landing of aircraft at such airports is considered dangerous.
Experts also have opinion that the landing of this aircraft was also not technically correct.
The risk in ‘tabletop’ runways is significantly higher due to the valley on either side or one side of the runway. In this situation, a lot of caution is required during both landing and take off of the aircraft. Due to this the pilots of these airports are also very efficient. Most tabletop runways are built on plateaus or mountain tops.
There are three tabletop runways at Mangaluru in Karnataka, Kozhikode Airport in Kerala and one in Mizoram in the country.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “I am very aggrieved and distressed in the air crash in Kozhikode. Air India Express flight number AXB-1344 from Kozhikode to Dubai reached 35 feet in a slope before skipping onto the runway in the event of rain and breaking into 2 pieces,”.
