Wind, rain, pilots’ decision, runway condition: Likely reasons for AI crash

A gust of wind, mistaken choice by the pilots, the condition of the air strip and even defective sign by the instrument landing procedure could be probable causes for the crash of the Air India Categorical on Friday in the south Indian town of Kozhikode, in accordance to aviation authorities.

The dominant cause cited by the authorities was the choice by the pilots to not divert the airplane to yet another airport following the 1st try to land at the specified strip unsuccessful amid rain.

The Boeing 737, bringing back a hundred ninety stranded Indians from Dubai, broke into parts following it overshot the table-top rated runway ten and fell into a valley 35 feet below, leaving eighteen men and women which include each the pilots dead.

“It is silly to land with a tailwind on a moist runway…This is what I have been pointing out for years. I stated in 2011 that landing with a tailwind in rain on runway ten will consequence in an incident one particular working day,” primary skilled Captain Mohan Ranganathan advised PTI.

Ranganathan was a member of the functions group of the Civil Aviation Security Advisory Committee (CASAC) in 2011. He has been a portion of several other safety committees of aviation regulator DGCA.

As the investigators begin probe into the incident, yet another aviation skilled referred to the “commonly recognised Swiss Cheese” product even though chatting about probable causes for the crash that included breaking apart of the plane’s fuselage.

“Any aeroplane incident that comes about is never dependent on a single factor. Top rated air incident investigation groups across the entire world believe in the Swiss Cheese product. It states that only when the holes of all the slices of Swiss cheese get aligned, then only an incident comes about,” the skilled stated on condition of anonymity.

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“It is just a metaphor. The Swiss cheese has whole lot of holes. If you set slices of Swiss cheese in a string and spin them, there will be one particular in a million occasions that all the holes would be aligned. That will be a precursor to an incident,” he defined.

The skilled stated the causes for the crash could include environmental factor, human factor, specialized factor, well being of the airplane, administrative factor and exterior factor like what the air website traffic controller is telling the pilots.

He stated a sudden gust of wind primary to a mistaken choice by the pilots, condition of the aircraft, mistaken signalling by the instrument landing procedure or pure human error could be some of the causes for the crash.

“It can be a numerous causes. We are not able to speculate. Wind velocity could be a cause. When you are at very low velocity, you are inclined to influence of the wind. A person gust of wind can participate in havoc,” he defined.

The runway ten at Kozhikode airport is somewhere around two,seven hundred metres extended. The aircraft touched down somewhere around 1,000 metres from the commencing of runway ten even though landing, in accordance to the AAI.

Captain S S Panesar, former director of flight safety and instruction at the Indian Airways stated the pilot must have diverted quickly to one particular of the close by airports like Trivandrum or Bengaluru following he did not succeed in its 1st try to land on runway ten in lousy weather condition, using the instrument landing procedure (ILS).

The ILS takes advantage of radio beams to give pilots vertical and horizontal steering even though landing the airplane.

“The authorities have uncovered the DFDR (digital flight info recorder) and CVR (cockpit voice recorder), but one particular thing will continue being unanswered, that why did not he divert?” Panesar requested.

The authorities stated the flight info recorder would give the investigators condition of the well being of the aircraft, even though the cockpit voice recorder will provide details of what the pilots were considering and what they were likely through in advance of the crash.

Captain Deepak Sathe was the pilot-in-command and Captain Akhilesh Kumar was the 1st officer of the flight AIX1344.

According to the AAI, the visibility at Kozhikode airport when the flight landed was two,000 metres.

The Kozhikode airport is a CAT-1 airport the place flights can land with visibility of 801110 metres or more. At a CAT-IIIB airport, the runway visible variety can be as very low as fifty metres.

B737 is one particular of the most popular aircraft styles of Boeing. According to the aircraft manufacturers’ functions handbook, a B737 airplane can satisfactorily land or get off when the tailwinds are not more than fifteen knots.

A former DGCA official advised PTI that the incident could have been averted had the runway been extended some more in the course of the final couple years.

In 2017, the AAI had attempted to procure land to increase the runway, but it was not capable to do so as the land acquisition was proving to be costly and there was stiff resistance from locals, stated the official.

Addressing the issues on runway ten, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri stated on Monday the airport is equipped with Runway Conclude Security Location (RESA) as for each Worldwide Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

10 years back, an Air India Categorical aircraft overshot the table top rated runway at Mangalore airport, fell into a gorge and caught fire, resulting in reduction of 158 lives.

Pointing to the similarities between the two incidents, Ranganathan stated “if the exact error is accomplished by the exact airline (Air India Categorical), so what transpired to safety audits and other checks that the DGCA has been undertaking for the final ten years”.

Panesar stated there must be a judicial enquiry into the incident as it will let aviation authorities to file affidavits and check with pointed issues about the incident.