Avoidable Tragedy : Mangalore Air Crash

Mangalore crash: Rescue ops stopped; all bodies recovered

The Air India Express flight was carrying 166 people.

• 137 Adults, 19 children, 4 infants & 6 crew

A total of 158 perished in the tragedy, including a mother and 3 children, known to dear friend of mine. May they all rest in peace.

In what would be be considered a normal day with a visibility of 6 Kms, the flight from Dubai to Mangalore overshoot the runway precariously located on the hill top. So, once past the runway and the overlook, the flight plunged into a wooded area, catching fire on its way. The bodies, badly charred, have all been recovered.

The Mangalore airport sits in tightly packed space on top of a hill, with little margin for error. Specifically on the runway in question, the terrain drops on all four sides of the runway. Here is a possible view as the flight approach the runway and overshoot. Notice the drop in terrain on either side of the runway.



Background : Mangalore based Environment Support Group (ESG) has been campaigning by filing Public Interest Litigations (PILs) for the past decade.This project started witnessing resistance in 1989 and a writ petition was filed as early as 1997. All petitions filed by ESG are available in the documentation section.

The PIL in 1997 points to certain facts. Among others, the PIL points to a previous incident that came very close to current incident.

• 2.1 That there is an existing airport near Bajpe about 20 kms. from Mangalore city by road, and that the same was developed in 1953 to cater to the needs of flight movements of Dakota planes and later modified to accomodate flight movements of Avro and Boeing 737 planes. This is a table-top airport with a run-way strip of 1,700 metres approximately, and is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world, as it is surrounded by hillocks on the eastern and western sides, limiting the possibility of safe flight movements.

• 2.2 This airport witnessed an accident when an Avro plane over ran the runway in about the year 1983, and fortunately the plane stopped at a rock beyond the runway on the slope of the table-top and major disaster was averted. The petitioners have produced a relevant picture of this accident from the Kannada Weekly “Taranga” dated 25 September 1994 and the same is shown in Annexure A.

The petition also points out the lack of margin for error on the new runway.

• 3.1 It is now proposed to build another airport stretching east to south-west encompassing Kolambe, Adyapady and Malavoor villages, hereinafter referred to as the said project. This is once again being developed as a table-top airport, about 100 metres above sea-level. The proposed runway length is 2980 metres, and the width of the airstrip, by and large, does not exceed 200 mts. The location is surrounded by steep hillock drop all around, except on the north-eastern side. A rough sketch of the proposed location is produced as Annexure B. 

The new runway proposed as part of the extension has no room to accommodate any unforseen incidents, including burst tyres and overshoots, which are common in aviation. The reason they are not heard of normally is because more often than not, the airports and supporting facilities are built to handle such eventualities.

While the detailed response of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) is unavailable, suffice to say that MCA's inputs, whatever they may be, have prompted the Supreme Court to rule out the PIL.

•  Delay condoned.
  
  
  We see no reason to interfere with the impugned order.   Accordingly,  the  special leave  petition  is dismissed. We, however, clarify that in  constructing the  Airport,  the  Government shall  comply  with  all applicable laws and also with environmental  norms.