[balenoed_]

Co-pilot also feared to be lost his life. Un-official reports say 16 fatalities.

Bad weather, heavy rains causing low visibility, why would they have to charter the flight for night landing especially it is known that a bad weather prevails. Can this not be done during day time at least to have a better advantage in all sense. Particularly now that there are no other scheduled flights during the day.

RIP and sad at this time of the year.

[DCEite]

As per news reports till now, both pilots have died, and twelve passengers have succumbed.

More news is awaited on the exact circumstances the plane skidded off the runway and split into half.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...g/77417877.cms

[Agarwal_Aayush]

Man this year is going worse by the day..
Just really hope this year finishes soon..


Really heartbreaking to see the images being shown on the television right now.
Can't really imagine what must be going on with the families who had someone returning through this flight.

The death toll has reached 10..
May the departed souls rest in peace and god give strength to the families who lost there precious ones.

[Bibendum90949]

15 Dead Including Both Pilots After Plane Breaks In Two In Kerala

In what's termed as the first aviation disaster in Kerala, an Air India Express plane skidded off the runaway while landing in inclement weather. The airport features a table top runway. According to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft circled the airport several times and made two attempts to land on the tabletop runway, surrounded by deep gorges on both sides.

At least 15 people were killed after an Air India Express plane with 190 on board from Dubai skidded off the runway and broke in two while landing at Kerala's Kozhikode on Friday amid heavy rain, the police said.

Among those killed were the two pilots of Flight IX-1344, authorities said. Four people are still stuck inside, the Kerala Police chief said.

Most on board have been evacuated and at least 50 injured, including 15 in serious condition, have been taken to hospital, authorities said.

There were 174 passengers, 10 Infants, two pilots and four cabin crew members on board the aircraft.

The flight was part of the Vande Bharat programme that has been bringing back Indians from abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Television images from the site showed part of the fuselage of the Boeing 737 jet ripped apart with debris strewn all over.

The incident took place amid very heavy rainfall in the area around 7:40 pm. A greater tragedy was averted as the plane did not catch fire. Emergency services personnel were seen working in the dark and spraying the wreckage with water.

According to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft circled the airport several times and made two attempts to land.

The Kozhikode airport is one of Kerala's most prominent international terminals and handles a significant number of flights from abroad, Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor told NDTV.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted, "Distressed to learn about the tragic accident of Air India Express aircraft in Kozhikode, Kerala. Have instructed NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) to reach the site at the earliest and assist with the rescue operations.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/air-...hikode-2276039

Captain Who Died In Kerala Plane Crash Was Decorated Ex-Air Force Pilot

Wing Commander Deepak Vasant Sathe, one of the two pilots of the Air India Express plane that skidded off the runway while landing and broke into pieces at Kerala's Kozhikode on Friday, is among the 11 who died.

Both the pilots of Flight IX 1344 are among the 11 who have died, the police chief of Kerala said.

Wing Commander Sathe was a former Indian Air Force pilot who flew planes for Air India before he went on to Air India Express flights. He was an award-winning pilot who was described as very experienced in flying Boeing 737 planes.

"He was very professional and was awarded the 58 NDA President Gold Medal. He had been a test pilot for the Air Force," said an officer.

According to tweets, Captain Sathe flew Airbus 310s for Air India. He won the sword of honour at the Air Force Academy and was an accomplished fighter pilot, said one user.

The flight was part of the Vande Bharat programme that has been bringing back Indians from abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The runway was slick with very heavy rainfall when the aircraft landed at 7.41 PM.

According to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft circled the airport several times and made two attempts to land on the tabletop runway, surrounded by deep gorges on both sides.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pilo...pieces-2276069

At least 14 persons, including the pilot and co-pilot, have been killed as an Air India Express aircraft carrying 191 passengers (including crew), as part of the Vande Bharat repatriation operations, skidded off the tabletop runway and fell into a 30-feet valley, breaking into two pieces while landing at Kerala's Kozhikode airport late Friday evening. Malappuram SP has confirmed the death toll. Several passengers have been injured and rushed to a medical facility. Initial reports say the incident took place at around 8.15 pm

https://indianexpress.com/article/in...dates-6544679/

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

shame that the accident site is a public spectacle with onlookers (perhaps with the intention to help) hindering rescue efforts.

I will never understand how there are always that many people who have nothing to do and will simply stand and gawk at an accident and its aftermath.

Here is a picture of the Mangalore air crash - try and count the number of people being useless in this picture

[raksrules]

Landing in heavy rains can be super tricky I think (not a pilot) under low visibility. Was once travelling on Etihad from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai and being month of July, there were super heavy rains in Mumbai. I had never experienced landing in rain before so I thought things will be fine but the noise of rain lashing the aircraft was scary.

The flight descended toward the run way and I could see buildings up close and we thought we will land and just before touchdown, zoom goes the plane up again in more than normal angle. I seriously thought it was my last day. The engine sound is also so scary with plane going in full throttle trying to climb. You get this weird feeling in your body too.
Eventually after a long round about, finally we landed after almost 45 minutes after first attempt.
Everyone clapped once it landed. One of the most harrowing experiences of my life.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Here is a picture of the Mangalore air crash - try and count the number of people being useless in this picture

If you go by that logic you could quote more examples. I am afraid to say that chatting here like this also can be quoted in that category.

What do you expect them to do? Plane crash is not a common thing that they will just casually walk away. They are humans and of course will be curious. I honestly say that I too would join them if I were anywhere close there.

In no way that is hampering any rescue operations. The ground reality is that the locals go over and beyond to help out and during such incidents they are infact hailed often.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by airbus

Flightradar24 data shows that flight might have attempted a go-around.

According to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft circled the airport several times and made two attempts to land on the tabletop runway, surrounded by deep gorges on both sides.

Captain Who Died In Kerala Plane Crash Was Decorated Ex-Air Force Pilot

Wing Commander Deepak Vasant Sathe, one of the two pilots of the Air India Express plane that skidded off the runway while landing and broke into pieces at Kerala's Kozhikode on Friday, is among the 11 who died.

Both the pilots of Flight IX 1344 are among the 11 who have died, the police chief of Kerala said.

Wing Commander Sathe was a former Indian Air Force pilot who flew planes for Air India before he went on to Air India Express flights

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was described as very experienced in flying Boeing 737 planes.

"He was very professional and had been awarded the 58 NDA President Gold Medal. He had been a test pilot for the Air Force," said an officer.

According to reports, Captain Sathe flew Airbus 310s for Air India. He won the sword of honour at the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad and was an accomplished fighter pilot before he decided to become a commercial pilot.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pilo...pieces-2276069

Just hoping that the casualty count doesn't rise. May the departed souls RIP.

Incidentally, Kerala is battering heavy rains since few days and there are landslides in hilly regions. 2020 is going from bad to worse on all counts.

The passenger list of the ill-fated aircraft. There are quite a number of kids in there, which is quite worrying.

[DrPriyankT]

One thing which comes to my mind is, why didn’t the pilot then attempt to land at Kannur Airport which is close to Karipur Airport? The longer runway distance could have helped him in landing the plane in heavy rains, especially as grip becomes less on a wet runway.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

The ground reality is that the locals go over and beyond to help out and during such incidents they are infact hailed often.

Looks like it is the same in this case as well. Local people together with rescue team saved most of the passengers within short time. I just watched few minutes back that they could rescue last two passengers and moved them to hospital. Looks like pilot's experience helped in reducing casuality.

[RohitAK96]

As of now, they have been able to extract everyone from the wreckage.

Sadly the Captain, Co-Pilot, and 14 others have lost their lives.

[Venkatesh]

Air India Express has issued the following statement regarding the incident involving Air India Express at Kozhikode, Kerala.



Helplines are open. These numbers will assist in providing information about passengers who were on the Air india Express AXB1344 .



Important Alert





Source : Twitter

https://youtu.be/PrkLoJRuNLI

[Dieseltuned]

Looks like the aircraft did more than one loop over the airport and tried landing twice, the question is why not divert to the nearest available airport instead of risk in such bad weather ? The flight was full and thus with heavy luggage load as well, managing such a full load in extreme bad weather conditions would have been hell scary for the pilots. I think the nearest option to land would have been kannur probably 100 kms away

RIP. To all the departed souls.

[Xaos636]

Ok guys, it was a few nervy hours and I am back home now after arranging a few friends to donate blood. The Kozhikode Airport is just 25 minutes from my home and never in any of my wildest dreams I have experienced anything like this. I stay near Calicut medical College and the sounds of Ambulance siren is still ringing in my ears even after it has stopped. I am not going into discussions on what and how this happened. Really sad for the people who lost their lives.

Hats off to the people living near airport who came to the rescue first. The airport area is a containment zone and vehicle movements were very less for the past few days with shops shut as well. And especially a flight coming from Dubai, its a risky affair thanks to several protocols related to covid-19 but I believe humanity stood first here as many locals rushed to the spot to help out the victims and they really did not remember about the covid protocols nor consider the heavy rain that is still pouring as I type this. I had a couple of friends as well who were there in minutes of the incident and one did report that the airport was short staffed and they themselves were calling for help till emergency services arrived. One friend is still in a state of shock after seeing the injured people. Will call him tomorrow to see how he is doing. They all have been asked to go into quarantine for 14 days now which they have happily obliged. Our local team has arranged a few people to donate blood to 3 nearby hospitals as the hospitals were asking for AB+ve and O-ve blood. As of now, the hospitals have already got enough blood but more might be required for tomorrow. Dropped a few friends at nearby hospitals but couldn’t gather the courage to check the Casualty block as it was covered with people, all crying. This year is running wild. Let the departed Rest in Peace. Prayers.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Looks like the aircraft did more than one loop over the airport and tried landing twice, the question is why not divert to the nearest available airport instead of risk in such bad weather ? The flight was full and thus with heavy luggage load as well, managing such a full load in extreme bad weather conditions

MOCA needs explain why this flight was allowed to depart from Dubai which is just 3 hours apart. Surely the weather was bad enough at the time of departure, given the situation in Kerala. And then whether the flight plan provided for diversions as is the normal procedure. What was the discussion between the pilots and ATC regarding weather? What were the weather conditions reported at the point of arrival? Was it above minimums ? Was there any pressure to complete the journey because of the whole Vande Bharat prestige?