Karipur Air India Express Crash | ‘Runway 10 in Karipur is not safe’; Ignored warning?

Years ago, experts had pointed out that the Karipur airport was unsafe and should not be allowed to land during monsoons. Capt. Mohan Ranganathan, a member of the Security Advisory Committee appointed by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, issued the warning for nine years. The accident on Friday proves that none of the warnings issued after the Mangalore plane crash were heeded.

“My warning given after the Mangalore plane crash was ignored. The buffer zone at the end of the table top runway in Karipur is not adequate ” – The Times of India reports quoting Captain Mohan Ranganath. More than 240 m of space is required at the end of the runway. But here it is only 90 meters. More than 100 meters of space is required on both sides of the runway. But in Karipur, it is only 75 meters, ”he said.

There are no specific guidelines for landing on a table top runway during the rainy season. On June 17, 2011, he wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Ministry of Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Committee, the Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA. ” Runway 10 should not be allowed as there is not enough safety area. The additional security area should be 240 meters. The length of the runway should be adjusted to ensure safety, ”said Captain Mohan Ranganathan.

If the aircraft cannot be parked within the runway, there is not enough safety area at the end. The slope is the ground after the concrete part where the ILS localizer antenna is installed. “The Airport Authority has not taken any steps to ensure the safety of the runways following the accident of the Air India Express flight at Mangalore,” the letter said.

In 2019, the DGCA also issued a warning

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in July audited all airports in India, including Karipur, to review security standards. Their discovery came as a shock to the civil aviation industry. They issued a show cause notice, sharply criticizing the Airport Authority for those findings. References in that notice read, “There is excessive rubber deposits on the runway, which can lead to extremely dangerous conditions for aircraft landings during heavy rainy nights.” The concern was that the friction between the surface of the rubber runway and the aircraft’s landing gear would be reduced. In addition to the excess rubber on the runway, the presence of excess water and cracks in the C / L markings are also obvious flaws in the audit.