Pilot's quick response makes all the difference

My mother was always apprehensive about my being an airhostess. She never missed an episode of Air Crash Investigation on the National Geographic TV channel and never failed to bombard me with questions about the probability the same would happen to me. I would always say air crashes were not for India but for countries covered in snow.
I'm not so sure I'd call her concern overreaction today. The Mangalore crash has put the Indian aviation industry in the spotlight. Experts are offering opinions on the airwaves but that is all you get until the real story unfolds.
At least part of this has to be the fact that their terrain makes Mangalore and Calicut two of India's most difficult airstrips to land on. It is well known that the runways at these airports are much shorter than others around the country.
Airports such as Leh, Pune, Varanasi and Jammu also have relatively short runways but a Boeing 737-800 can easily land there provided the aircraft touches down at the designated point and stops where it should. Aviation is all about having alternatives should anything go wrong. But when it's relatively short, if adequate, runway with a valley or the sea (Goa) lying just beyond, there are few alternatives if a plane overshoots.
The ill-fated Air India Express 812 crashed into the forested valley once the pilot lost control. But why did he lose control? Only a thorough investigation can provide answers but industry insights can enable one at least to ask the right questions. The pilot in command (PIC) of Flight 812 was a Briton of Serbian ethnicity and on contract with the airline. It is unclear how well he understood Mangalore Air Traffic Control's heavily accented English.
23/05/10 Ruchika Rai/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Budget May 2010, Airports May 2010, NACIL May 2010, Safety May 2010