Deadly mishaps: Crash at Karipur airport rekindles memories of 2010 Mangaluru accident

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The accident that happened at Karipur airport on Friday night has striking similarities to the 2010 Mangaluru air crash. In both cases Air India flights met with the disaster and both airports have ‘table-top’ runways, which need adept negotiation skills for the pilot to land.

It was on May 22, 2010 that an Air India Express Boeing 737-800 flight from Dubai to Mangaluru over shot the runway while landing at Bajpe airport and fell into a cliff. Of the 166 passengers on board, only seven survived.

The final conversations between Air traffic control (ATC) and the pilot prior to the landing showed no indication of any distress.


Like the Mangaluru accident, Karipur crash too happened when the flight was attempting to land.

The captain of the aircraft which crashed at Mangaluru, Z Glucia, was an experienced pilot with 10,000 hours of flying experience and had 19 landings at the Mangalore airport. Co-pilot S S Ahluwalia, with 3,000 hours of flying experience had as many as 66 landings at this airport. Both the pilot and co-pilot were among the victims.

An investigation into the accident later found that the cause of the accident was the captain’s failure to discontinue an ‘unstabilised approach’ and his persistence to continue with the landing, despite three calls from the First Officer to ‘go-around’.