Karipur Has Been An Accident Waiting To Happen

By K Raveendran

The mishap at Karipur airport at Kozhikode, which saw an Air India Express aircraft, break up into two or more pieces, has been an accident waiting to happen. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had flagged the table top airport as highly dangerous, but political pressures and demand by local communities saw to it that the airport continued to operate as if nothing had happened.

DGCA had classified 11 airports in India as critical in terms of safety and Karipur was one of them. The list was headed by the Mangalore airport, which had witnessed a similar mishap 10 years ago, when an Air India Express plane from Dubai overshot the runway and caught fire, killing 158 passengers.

These airports have been classified as risky based on various factors such as terrain, length of runway, predominance of inclement weather. A probe into the Mangalore accident had come to the conclusion that the airport’s topography was to blame.

In 2015, the Airports Authority of India had restricted the operation of wide-bodied aircrafts at the airport. With major airlines such as Emirates, Saudi and Air India diverting their flights to Kochi, the airport virtually remained closed. But persistent pressure from various quarters forced its reopening.

Karipur is the hub for Haj flights and is considered the gateway to Malabar, a region with a lot of political clout, apart from the influence of Gulf businessmen, who have been the driving force behind the airport. These lobby interests prevailed over the authorities to get the airport operational once again.

The Centre had taken the stand that an additional area of 350 hectares was required to equip the airport with a longer runway and other facilities so as to receive wide-bodied aircrafts. The expansion had hit a roadblock as land owners in the nearby areas, mostly comprising small holdings, refused to part with their land. The land acquisition required some 1,500 families to be relocated, but the idea faced stiff resistance from the local population.

The state government has been unsuccessful to acquire the land, as a result of which the expansion plan has been hanging fire. The Airports Authority opted to overcome the problem by providing for safety area before and after the runway to avoid the planes overshooting the runway. But Friday’s accident shows that these so-called safeguards were not good enough.

Former DGCA chief Bharata Bhushan is on record that the Karipur airport is not suitable for the operation of wide-bodied aircraft, despite the addition of new facilities. But the airport has been receiving even jumbo aircrafts, throwing all cautions to wind. So, the latest mishap is hardly surprising.

Experts point out that table top airfields require extra skill and caution while carrying out flight operations due to the undulating terrain and constraints of space. The hazard of undershooting and overshooting, in particular, can lead to grave situations, they say. Runways at these airports create an optical illusion making them appear at the same level as the plains below, which necessitates pilots to be extra cautious while landing.

Weather is another critical factor, affecting visibility, which can make the difference between a successful landing or take-off and a disaster. The Air India Express plan from Dubai was making a landing when the area was witnessing heavy rainfall as the state’s monsoon unleashed new fury.

The pilot is understood to have aborted the first landing attempt and hit the middle of the runway in the second attempt, leaving not enough length of the runway for the plane to complete it course, leading to the plunge to the ground some 30 feet down, causing the plane to break up. It was probably due to providential intervention that the plane did not end up as a ball of fire, which is the most probable outcome in similar situations.

Karipur’s safety gaps were in focus a year ago, when the DGCA had pointed out several safety concerns after an Air India Express flight coming from Dammam had a tail strike while landing. (IPA Service)