An Air India Express plane carrying 190 people crashed and broke into 2 pieces when landing in Kozhikode airport on Friday 7th August. It was a repatriation flight carrying passengers stranded in Dubai. The ill-fated plane IX-1344 crashed near a taxiway 1000 meters from the beginning of the runway.
The Kozhikode airport in Kerala has a ‘table top’ runway which is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Such runways are generally constructed in hilly or elevated areas.
Two pilots were among the 18 people killed due to the plane accident. A spokesperson for AAI said that runway 28 was to be used in the first landing attempt, but the pilot could not see the runway and requested to land on Runway 10 for the second attempt.
Details taken from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC), the AAI spokesperson said that the aircraft touched down at taxiway ‘C’, about 1000 meters from the beginning of runway 10. The total length of the runway is 2,700 meters.
After the disaster, the rescue operation lasted until midnight, while the airport resumed operations from 3 am on Saturday.
Survivors of the accident said that the plane shook violently for some time before going dark. Many passengers escaped from the ill-fated plane from the emergency exit which was relatively intact.
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