Mohan Ranganathan, the Aviation safety Consultant, on the 8th of August, shared his point of view about the tragic Air India Express plane crash.
On the 7th of August, around 7:40 P.M.,an Air India Express Boeing 737-800, flight carrying 190 people on board crashed.
The plane crashed while landing at Kozhikode Airport also known as Karipur Airport, Kerala.
Captain Mohan Ranganathan said the tragic incident was a deliberate murder and not an accident.
According to Mr. Ranganathan the issue was of risks at the Kozhikode Airport. He said the airport was a dangerous airfield, which has been pointed out 9 years ago in a similar incident.
In 2011, June 17, Mr. Ranganathan wrote to the then Chairman of the Union Civil Aviation Minister and warned about the dangerous airfield. He highlighted the risks in 2011, which led to a similar plane crash in Mangalore.
The letter written in 2011 read, “The Air India Express accident in Mangalore should have alerted Airport Authorities of India (AAI) to make the runway conditions safe. We have brought up the issue of the runway end safety area (RESA) during the initial Casac sub-group meetings. We had specifically mentioned that the declared distances for both runways have to be reduced in order to comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 14 requirement.”
He said, “My warning, issued after the Mangalore crash, was ignored. It is a tabletop runway with a downslope. The buffer zone at the end of the runway is inadequate.”
The airport should have a buffer of 240 metres at the end of the runway, but it has only 90 metres approved by the Director General of the Civil Aviation (DGCA.)
He said, “Moreover, the space on either side of the runway is only 75 metres instead of the mandatory 100 metres.”
Mr. Ranganathan was part of a panel which had submitted a report around 9 years ago highlighting risks at the Kozhikode airport.
Captain Ranganathan said that corruption in the civil aviation sector is very high, and that is why people ‘get away with murder’.
The Air India Express plane crash happened on the 7th of August, so far claimed 19 lives including two pilots.
The incident left as many as 127 people injured, of which 18 are in a critical situation.
All the injured people are undergoing treatment.
Meanwhile, an investigation has been launched in the matter.
Stay tuned for further updates.
