Safety is still an issue at Mangalore airport

Mangalore, Mumbai: So what have we learnt from the Air India Express flight IX-812 crash at Mangalore’s Bajpe airport on May 22? Nothing, it seems.
According to the figures released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI),the month after the crash saw about 840 flights of three major airlines bringing in 1.26 lakh passengers to the airport.
The numbers are good but the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC), which was formedsoon after the crash, is yet to meet to discuss the safety issues to avert another disaster.
Flight IX-812 crashed into the ravineat the end of the 8,000-foot-long runway, killing 158 passengers including six crew members on board.
Aviation experts were quick to point out that it was the short tabletop runway which had forced the ill-fated aircraft to overshoot and fall into the 300-foot deep ravine at the end of the landing stretch. On May 28, Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel had announced that the runway would be extended to 9,000 feet.
However, a member of CASAC confirmed that they had not yet discussed the matter concerning the extension of the Bajpe Airport runway. “Since the formation, the council has not even met once,” he told DNA on condition of anonymity.
Sources in the Bureau of Indian Aviation Safety (BIAS) told DNA the process was still on to install a civil variant of the Precision Approach Radars (PARs) at Bajpe. These are used by the IAF and Indian Navy (on aircraft carriers).
22/06/10 M Raghuram & Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Jun 2010, Safety Jun 2010