Thiruvananthapuram: The images of the cockpit indicate that the Air India Express crashed at the Calicut International Airport on Friday night when the pilots were trying another takeoff after realising the second landing attempt would not be successful, say experts.
The aircraft's thrust lever is in the takeoff position and the engine start lever is not in the ‘off’ position. But the lever that controls the flaps on the wings is in the ‘landing’ position.
Experts who saw the pictures of the cockpit taken from inside the plane after the accident believe that the flight probably overshot the runway and the pilots, unable to control the speed to bring it to a halt, tried to fly again but failed.
The flaps of the wings should be below 10 degrees for takeoff. But, it is clear from the picture that they were at 40 degrees, which is the position used only for landing, the experts said.
The pictures show that the engine start lever is not in the off position, indicating that the assumption that the engine may have been turned off to prevent the flight from catching fire after it went out of control is incorrect.
Experts believe that the engine stopped functioning after the aircraft split into two on crashing. They say the position of the lever could not have changed due to the impact of the crash or while trying to remove the pilots from the cockpit during the rescue operations.
Accident due to negligence: FIR
The plane crash at the Calicut International Airport was caused by 'negligence' during landing, according to the First Information Report of the police.
The FIR was registered at Karipur police station and it has been submitted to the Nilambur First Class Magistrate in charge of the Manjeri CJM Court. The case was registered under various sections of the IPC and Aircraft Act for causing the accident by negligence.
The police investigation will be carried out along with the Aviation Ministry's probe into the plane crash, Malappuram district police chief U Abdul Kareem said. A special investigation team will carry out the inquiry, which will look into the cause of the accident and whether there was any breach of procedure.
The investigation is being led by Malappuram DySP K Haridas under the supervision of Additional SP G Sabu. ASP A Hemalatha, CIs P Shibu (Karipur), KM Biju (Kondotty), Aneesh P Chacko (Vengara), SIs K Noufal (Karipur) and Vinod Valyath (Kondotty) will be in the team.
A police investigation report is also required to obtain insurance for those affected by the mishap. The FIR was prepared on the basis of a statement from CISF ASI, who was on airport peripheral security duty at the scene of the accident.
Did pilot choose the wrong runway?
The investigation into the crash is looking at whether the accident was caused by the pilot’s decision to land the plane on the west side of the runway (Runway 10).
The eastern part of the runway (Runway 28) is the primary runway at the airport. This runway is recommended by the Air Traffic Control Department and preferred by pilots during adverse weather conditions. But the crashed Air India Express landed on Runway 10.
The flight first attempted to land on the primary runway as per the instructions of the ATC. However, as the vision was not clear, the attempt was abandoned and the plane took off again.
The pilot then decided to land on Runway 10 in the second attempt. Wind speeds were forecast to be above 10 nautical miles per hour. The pilot might have decided to try this runway because the Boeing 737–800 could have withstood winds of up to 15 nautical miles per hour (tailwind).
In August 2017, a SpiceJet plane skidded on the same runway during landing and crashed.
In July last year, the rear wing (horizontal stabiliser) of an Air India Express touched the ground during landing. A DGCA committee then conducted an investigation and submitted a report saying that there was sloping and patches at the beginning of Runway 10.
(With inputs from Naseeb Karattil and Ajay Ben)
