Heartbreaking Mangalore Flight Accident

In the early hours of 22nd May 2010, most of the passengers boarded on the Air-India Express Boeing flight No 737-812 flying from Dubai to Mangalore, India never knew that that was their last morning in their life. The whole country shocked on hearing the mournful news of the flight accident that held at 6:10 AM (ISD) on 22nd May of 2010 nearby Bajbe Airport of Mangalore. This was really sad to learn that there were 158 people killed including 19 young children, 2 babies, 6 Air-India staffs and 2 pilots just a few minutes before landing. The flight went down into the slope lying on one side of the runway and it crashed into pieces. Very few pople escaped by jumping from the flight before it was crashed. Most of the people killed in this deadliest plane crash were belonged to Kerala and Karnataka. It is reported that the chief pilot Z.Glusica who drove the plane had more than 10,000 hours of flying experience and he was from Serbian origin in British and the co-pilot H.S.Aluvalia, Mangalore was also said to have enough experience of 3,650 flying hours. Since it was early morning most of the passengers had been in deep sleep. When the flight was flying at about 10 Km away from the control room of Mangalore Airport, the pilot announced the passengers to wear the belt. Though the weather was so clear and the plane was run by the experienced pilots who have understood well about the airport, the real reasons for the accident are yet unknown.

How Could This Great Tradgedy Have Happened?

The experts and other senior pilots are saying many reasons for the happening of this deadliest flight accident ever happened in India. The prime reason could be the relatively shorter runway of the Mangalore Airport. It has been the report of Indian pilots for a long since that Mangalore is not safer for landing flights in bigger size. It is also included in the list of risky airports of India as it is provided with table-top landing since it is located on the top of hillock. If the pilot did a small error in landing, there would be a lot of chances to meet the accident. Incase if there had been enough space on both sides of runway, the pilot might have saved all the lifes of passengers as well as the flight.

It is also understood that the pilot already had great flying experience and he might have tried to avoid accident, after learning the situation, by diverting the direction of the plane and making another round for safer landing. But, being an experienced and senior pilot he might have feared to face many enquiries, depromotion and so on. If he was given freedom to land the flight, there would be no need of pledging the life of many hundreds of innocent passengers boarded on the ill fated flight. So, the Air-India should relax the rules and regulations for landing particularly for the risky airports like Mangalore.

Many people on the spot who witnessed the accident are saying that the flight had crossed the mark of landing point as the pilot started downing the plane along the runway from the height of 2000 ft instead of 1000 ft. This mistake of pilot made the flight to cross the safer point of landing as he might have missed landing threshold. It is said that he gave full pressure to the brake system and the tyres burst which might be responsible for the change of direction of the plane and crashing into pieces.

Now the clear reason for the tragedy has been known with the help of blackbox. It's really bad to understand that chief pilot Z.Glusica ignored the words and warning left by the co-pilot H.S.Aluvalia at the last moment. He warned his captain that they had been in total risk and urged to avoid the landing then. It is still bad to know that Z.Glusica also neglected the warning from the control room. Every thing went wrong in that last few minutes when the chief pilot tried to control the speed of the flight.

But, one thing is true that Z.Glusica like pilots have left a great lesson to the other pilots in all over the world. Every chief pilot should understand the fact that the co-pilot is also holding responsibility in the safety driving of planes. They all need to cooperate with the co-pilots and carefully follow the instructions from the control room.

Air-India should take necessary steps to avoid this type of accidents

This is in fact a bitter lesson for Air-India. Air-India should not allow this sort of flight accidents in future. They should find it necessary to learn hereafter the real resons for the accident and correct the landing problems in other risky airports of India including Calicut, Sri Nagar, Kashmir, Port Blair in Andaman and Agathi in Lakshadweep. As alreday said the higher officials of Air-India should relax the rules and regulations in landing flights in those risky air-ports considering the safety of passengers.

May God bless the soul of people who lost their life in this terrible plane crash and we also pray Him for giving strength to the people who have lost their relatives and friends in this unforgettable worst flight accident.