[Raj_RD]

If FR24 data is anything to go by, the approach speed was around 180 knots at around 1000 feet which seems faster than a normal approach. Though the data might not be accurate.

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 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.

The aircraft at first tried to land in RWY 28 but made a go around and then tried to land on the opposite end (RWY 10) coming in from the sea-side.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by 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.

Kozhikode is a beautiful city with beautiful people. I have had the opportunity of spending 4 years there for my Engineering and have many experiences where locals go out of the way to help others-even strangers.

Sad news nevertheless. The state is seeing a resurgence of COVId cases, being lashed by rains and now this.

2020 seems going from bad to worse. My thoughts to all those passengers and the crew.

[MUJ]

It's a horrific accident in the already hard times. RIP to all the departed souls. I had heard from many media that the Pilot was an ex-IAF and also a winner of the best pilot award. He had switched off the engines in order to avoid a fire. If the fire had started the casualties would have been much greater, Kudos to him He saved many people's life at the cost of his.

On the other hand In Today's TOI I came across a article which states that the Runway 10 was not safe to land. This was suggested by a committee right after the Mangalore incident.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/77424513.cms

[vigsom]

No amount of analysis is going to get Capt.Sathe, his colleague in the cockpit and the deceased passengers back to life.

Let's not get "influenced" by the "expert" analysis of armchair quarterbacks on what went wrong and what should have been done.

Trust the pilots and the ATC - they knew what to do and did not act in haste, but unfortunately something went wrong.

[Jessierider]

It is truly unfortunate that such an accident has occured and the loss of life is painful to witness, this being said, Aviation still remains the most meticulously monitored mode of transport rendering them the safest among all means and modes of transportation.

One thing to note is that, the regional media has been lauding the local residents who were the first responders to crash and played an extremely important role in rescuing the victims. I am understanding that victims were rushed to hospitals on lorries, autorikshaws, personal cars of the local residents who rushed to the scene even before the ambulances or fire tenders could reach.

An aviation accidents always involves an eliment of risk of explosion due to the large quantity of fuel they carry. From one of the interviews given by a local to a regional channel, I was able to gather that the locals waited patiently for minutes for the first responders from the airport to reach the location and give a green signal to the locals to also indulge in rescue inspite of cries of despair from the pax on the inside of the plane. It might sound absured that people risked their lives in this covid time by also exposing themselves to a possible explosion and rescued so many.

I have had a brief experience of working with an regional airline( Defunct now) and my father is a current employee with one of the premier airports in India and deals with the safety and security. I have my following obervation, these are personal thoughts and hence maintain discretion.

Cause of accident.

Angle 1- The weather being the main culprit.

This is possible, many pilots who operate out of the airports on the western coast have always pointed the difficulty in landing due to the harshness of the weather. We have seen numerous instances of aircraft skids in Mumbai.
Calicut being a table top aiport, the margin for error is marginal and hence this ill fated jet was on its second approach to get it right. The visibility was said to be around 2000 Meters which I believe is good enough. The chances of skids are highly possible, we have seen such insidents where a, Air Deccan ATR in banagalore many years back in addition to the spicejet at Hubbali. Since, the Aircraft over shot the runway at the tip and going by the accounts of the survivors I feel weather is not the only culprit but definitly has a major part to play in the chain of events.

Angle 2 - Faults in the run way.

There is a letter circulating on the media about a letter from DGCA mentioning the risks at Calicut airport written to Airports Authority of India who are the operators in 2011. Some of the points mentioned in the letter are below,

1. Rubber deposits on the run way- These are residues from the landing gear touching down on the runway.
2. The buffer zone at the end of the run way- The minimum requirement is 200 meters whereas it is only 90 meters in Calicut. The extension of the airport is held up due to the issues WRT to land acquisition.
3. The width of the runway and its buffer zone- The Minimum requirement is 150 meters but the availability is about 75 meters at Calicut. The geography of the area restricts this as its a table top airport.
4. Dips and bumps on the run way- These are due to lack of maintenance,
5. Excessive water logging- These are due to lack of proper maintenance.

My personal points on the runways part in the catastrophy.

1. Rubber on Runway - Runways maintenance is a question on its own, I am given to understand that one of the busiest airports in India has designated 3 hours every week of zero operation just to clean the run way of the rubber and debris. It is understood that such activities are rarely carried out at Calicut. A defence could be that the traffic at Calicut is lower, in my opinion safety cannot be compromised as Calicut run way is table top landing and we have had the experience of Mangalore.
2. Dips and Bumps and excessive water logging- These can also be put under the heading of lack of maintenance, I am told that the resurfacing of runway has not been performed at Calicut airport in the recent past which causes all these issues.

Angle 3- Pilot Error.

It is too early to point our fingers at the bravemen who laid their life to save the many passengers on board. It is because of the timely intervention of the pilots that the crash was this less fatal. A faster plan falling 40 feet has all it needs to turn into a ball of fire. The casualities would have been higher.

It is my opinion that perhaps the plane glided a little too long over the runway and landed a little after the touch down point and hence could not stop in time. It is possible that there was an eliment of pilot error in judging. The captain was a very experienced Airforce man, my friend who is a crew with Air India Express was all praises for this wonderfully capable human being.

Angle 4- The operational worthiness of the plane and the doctrines of the Airline Management.

This point is often convienently ignored by all. We recently has a famous Youtuber pilot, Capt. Gaurav Taneja of AirAsia who complained about various things going wrong with the airline. It is unfortunatetly not restricted to AirAsia. The DGCA officials are often hand in glove with the airlines who turn a blind eye towards these infractions and only wake up and run around like a headless chicken when something goes wrong.

Some of my personal experiences from my airline days( Note- This airline is now defunct due financial issues, they were initially suspended a few months into operation due to irregularities and dangerous operationals doctorines found out by DGCA.

1. The management had made it clear to the pilots that the plane has to land on the first approach irrespective of whatever is the reason. More often, I have gathered from pilots that they had to drop the plane on to the runway. Once a pilot was reprimanded verbally as he went around for a second approach.

2. Over worked pilots- A few of the pilots with the airline were extremely over worked but the data was fudged.

3. Aircraft spares- It is the duty of the pilot to call off a flight if he feels the aircraft is not airworthy. The reasons for this can be many, some of the resons donot hamper the fundamental flight operations. The pilots had to work in tandem with the aircraft engineers to hoodwink the system by not reporting this matter as a cancelled flight is equal to cancelled revenue and refunds.

4. Inexperienced cabin crew- Even though the cabin crew to many are a glam quotant of the aviation the role they play is huge in the event of an emergency. Most crew are inexperienced freshers who have had to payup to get hired and trained. Training is extremely shoddy making them inexperienced to handle crisis.

These are some of the points I noticed at a regional airline which was plagued by financial issues operating in a market with wafer thin margins as low as 8000 Indian Rupees on certains routes haunted and hunted by predatory pricing of the larger sharks. These are common among all the airlines in india and authorities sit on recomendations and letters which suddenly appears out of no where when issues like tbis crash crops up. These letters and recomendations are seldom followed and not acted upon but are summoned as soon as someones backside has to be saved.

In my opinion what must have gone wrong will be found out as soon as the Blackboxes are recoverd and perhaps we will witness a race to fit the crash into one of the 3 straight jackets below.
1. Weather
2. Runway and the local authority at Calicut.
3. Pilot error.

The Pilots were blamed during Mangalore, No one spoke of the fatigue they had to endure and the blame never went to the actual perpetrators. In my opinion, all the angles I have mentioned must have come together in a chain of events which finally culminated in the plane falling off the cliff and innocent lives being lost.

Aviation still remains the most safest modes of transport and is by far the most regulated among all. My faith in flying is far from vanishing but we have a long way to go in making our skies safer.

I could be wrong as I am merely using my logic and some experience I have gained over the years. I am open to being proven wrong or corrected by the many eminent and learned personalites on this forum. I request that my words be taken as my opinion.

[chiefpk]

This is really unfortunate. Almost 18 people have been reported dead and quite a few injured as well. 2020 has been giving India some big blows. Assam- Bihar floods, the pandemic, the Ahmedabad hospital fire and a huge list of such incidents. Very saddened and disheartened to know about such recent events. My condolonces and thoughts to every person affected right now.

[V.Narayan]

Very sad & tragic incident of landing in a storm on a difficult runway. My condolences to all those who lost their lives and to their families. I wonder if the aircraft encountered a sudden micro burst just as it was landing. Would any one know if this runway is grooved for flow out of rain water.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

.... such a shame that the accident site is a public spectacle with onlookers (perhaps with the intention to help) hindering rescue efforts. Our emergency services aren't the most effective in the world and having a swarm of people there to take a look doesn't help.
...

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

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.

...

Quite the opposite happened yesterday. Like in all disasters in Kerala, the local people were extremely supportive and supposedly managed to clear the roads, take people to the hospital and what more... Read somewhere, that in about 1.5 hours all the casualties were handled. Thanks to the locals.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

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.

Well said.

See here -

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...DXp6G2qmN.html

https://www.acqro.in/kozhikode-trage...ue-operations/

https://maktoobmedia.com/2020/08/08/...escue-efforts/

https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/st...54515676024833

Local support in rescue operations is not a new thing to Kerala, be it floods, Covid or such mishaps.

Originally Posted by Xaos636

Ok guys, it was a few nervy hours and I am back home now after arranging a few friends to donate blood.

Salute !

Spike

[Cessna182]

Read somewhere that locals queued up to donate blood in the rain in the middle of the night. Kerala is truly the pride of India. Stable government, educated people. The root cause of the accident can be analyzed by experts, and not armchair experts, at an opportune time. Let's hope for recovery of those survivors now.

[Gansan]

This is sad. I am not trying to judge the crew or the airport authorities, but if conditions are very inclement, why not avoid landing in airports such as Calicut or Mangalore and divert to another ground level airport? I suppose landing will be difficult even there with similar weather conditions, but at least the plane will not fall off a cliff.

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Let's not get "influenced" by the "expert" analysis of armchair quarterbacks on what went wrong and what should have been done.

Totally agree. Air transport is still the safest mode of transport world over. All flight related data, including conversation between pilots and the airport authorities will be recorded, and analysed in detail to find out the exact cause of the mishap. Let us all wait till then.

Open question to people who are commenting on incoming speed of the aircraft and safety profile of runway x vs runway y - Are your observations/comments based on facts you have verified yourself, or just your opinions based on other people's opinions which have been published online and otherwise?

[arzala]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Landings on tabletop runways is tricky especially in bad weather. I have been on flights to Mangalore in the monsoons that had to do violent go-arounds because of poor visibility, winds and rains. It can be very unnerving as a passenger in the aircraft, after a turbulent final approach through low clouds, to suddenly get jolted by Take off/Go around Power. The crew has go through the entire landing procedure in turbulent and bad weather again.It is never easy for the cockpit crew in such situations.

That's harsh reality of most of table-top runways. I always thought why runways on such table-top airports have certain "gradient/slope" so that it can naturally act as speed-braker specially when runways are short due to land limitations.

[Tassem]

My heart goes out to all the families affected by this. 2020 is indeed a dark year. Turns out one of the pilots was my friend's dad's classmate. He mentioned when this (unverified) forward was shared:

It's hard to believe that Dipak Sathe, my friend more than my cousin, is no more. He was pilot of Air India Express carrying passengers from Dubai in 'Vande Bharat Mission', which skidded off the runway at Kozhikode International Airport yesterday night.

What is learnt is as follows:
Landing gears didn't work.
Ex IAF pilot made three rounds of airport to empty the fuel which saved plane from catching fire. That’s why there was no smoke seen coming from the crashed aircraft.
He turned off the engine right before the crash.
He belly landed after the 3rd iteration.
The right wing was ruptured.
The Pilot martyred but saved life of 180 co-passengers.

Deepak was an experienced aerial operator with 36 years of flying experience. A passout of NDA, topper in the 58th course and an awardee of 'Sword of Honour', Dipak served Indian Air Force for 21 years before joining as a Commercial Pilot with Air India in 2005.

He called me just a week before and was jovial, as always. When I asked him about the 'Vande Bharat' Mission, he was proud of bringing back our countrymen from Arab countries. I asked him,"Dipak, do you carry empty Aircraft since those countries are not allowing entry of passengers?" He had replied," Oh, No. We carry fruits, vegetables,medicines etc to these countries and never the aircraft flies to these countries empty." That was my last conversation with him.

He survived in air crash in early nineties when he was in Airforce. He was hospitalised for 6 months for multiple skull injuries and nobody thought that he will fly again. But his strong will power and love for flying made him clear the test again. It was a miracle.

He leaves behind his wife and two sons, both pass outs of IIT Mumbai. He is a son of Brigadier Vasant Sathe who stays in Nagpur along with his wife. His brother, Capt Vikas, was also an Armyman who laid his life while serving in Jammu region.

A soldier lays his life to save the lives of his countrymen.
It reminds me of a poem by a soldier :

If I die in a war zone,
Box me up & send me home

Put my medals on my chest,
Tell my Mom I did the best

Tell my Dad not to bow,
He won't get tension from me now,

Tell my brother to study perfectly,
Keys of my bike will be his permanently

Tell my Sis not to be upset,
Her Bro will not rise after this sunset

And tell my love not to cry,
"Because I am a soldier Born to Die...."

... Nilesh Sathe

My respect to all those who serve this nation.

[Fordlover88]

Sharing a few pictures of the landscape there. Don't know how authentic are these.