Kozhikode : The probable cause of an Air India plane crash at Kozhikode airport last year was due to non-adherence to the standard operating procedure by the pilot flying the aircraft, a government report released on Saturday stated. A total of 21 passengers had lost their lives in the incident.
“‘The probable cause of the accident was the non-adherence to standard operating procedures by the pilot flying, wherein, he continued an unstabilized approach and landed beyond the touchdown zone, halfway down the runway, in spite of ‘Go Around’ call by [the] Pilot Monitoring which warranted a mandatory ‘Go Around’ and the failure of the Pilot Monitoring to take over controls and execute a ‘Go Around’,” said the 257-page report by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
What is ‘Go Around’?
‘Go Around’ is when a pilot decides to abort the landing before or after touching down if they feel that the plane could not come to a halt at a safe distance. In a ‘Go Around’, the aircraft informs the air traffic control of their decision to abort their planned landing before making another approach to land at the same or at a diversionary airfield.
In the flight from Dubai to Kozhikode, there were 184 passengers and six crew members. A total of 19 passengers and 2 pilots had lost their lives in the accident.
The Boeing 737 Air India Express flight was operating under the Vande Bharat Mission to bring back Indians stranded due to the suspension of international flight operations in wake of the Covid pandemic.
After two unsuccessful landing attempts due to bad weather, the plane touched down on the tabletop runway but overshot it, fell into the adjoining valley and broke into three pieces.
“Before the approach for runway 10 as well, the Pilot in Command did not carry out adequate briefing for landing with tailwinds, in rain and poor visibility. The mandatory calculation of landing distances was omitted….