Kozhikode Air India plane crash live updates: Black box brought o DGCA lab in Delhi

Director-General of DGCA Anil Kumar on Sunday said that transcripts from the black box would be recovered soon. While speaking to ANI, Kumar said that only after conducting a thorough and unbiased probe, it will be possible to tell what exactly happened. "Soon we will have all transcripts from recovered black box. We are also going to talk to Boeing to examine the aircraft's original equipment and check for defects. Only after conducting a thorough and unbiased probe, can we tell what exactly happened," he said. The black box has been brought to DGCA's lab in Delhi from the crash site.

"It was raining heavily in Kerala. The accumulation of rainwater on the runway surface in the rainy season is the riskiest thing. There should be proper drainage on runaway and a maximum of around 3 mm water film is allowed. During braking, the wheel of aircraft gets locked while landing and later released. At that time, if there is a film, then the plane will skid off. In this case, the plane can go in right or left direction or it cannot stop," Air Marshal (Retired) Bhushan Gokhale, who investigated the Mangalore plane crash said. "Rubber in the plane tires melts while landing and that's why smoke comes out. In this case, if the water is on the runway, there will be a problem while landing," he said.

The initial report which was submitted before the Civil Aviation Ministry also stated that just after landing, the aircraft went out of the runway. "It was observed by the controller that the aircraft has not touched down till abeam taxiway C. On anticipation that the aircraft may overshoot runway the controller has asked the CFT on PD point to enter runway and follow the aircraft. Since the controller was not able to sight the aircraft at the end of runway, fire bell and siren were activated. CFT from the end of runway reported unable to sight the aircraft on the runway. CFT was asked to proceed to the valley and check," the report stated.

The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder from the Kozhikode air crash have been sent to Delhi for decoding and analysis. A senior official associated with the probe said it was too early to say whether the accident was the result of a technical fault or human error. Experts are examining the last-minute change in choice of runway and subsequent wind direction, and unconfirmed reports of trouble with the landing gear of the aircraft.

A combination of infrastructure inadequacies and human errors could have contributed to the plane crash at Kozhikode on Friday evening, said E K Bharat Bhushan, former director-general of civil aviation (DGCA). Hitting out at the successive state governments for not completing land acquisition for extending the airport’s runway, he said: “The Kerala government should be clearly told that this airport cannot function unless adequate land is provided.”

Delay in land acquisition for development of Karipur Airport for over a decade, despite the Centre and Airports Authority of India (AAI) repeatedly raising the request, has come to the fore after Friday’s crash. Though years ago AAI demanded 485.3 acres for airport development, including runway extension, it didn’t materialise, following which it scaled down the plans to 137 acres. But even that too was stalled due to local resistance against land acquisition and the alleged lackadaisical attitude of successive Kerala governments.

It was Neela Sathe’s 83rd birthday on Saturday when she woke up to the news of her son, Wing Commander Deepak Sathe’s death in the Kozhikode air crash. Sathe was the pilot of the ill-fated flight. His presence of mind is reported to have saved a larger casualty. Neela’s daughter, Anjali Parashar, who lives in Mumbai, had planned to give her parents a surprise, but had to rush to Kozhikode to collect Deepak’s body.

In a press release, the ICPA said that it is closely monitoring the developments related to the accident of Air India Express Flight IX-1344 that overran the runway upon landing at Kozhikode Airport. "Our thoughts are with the families of the pilots and passengers who lost their lives in the accident. We send our support and wishes for a speedy recovery to all the survivors, many of them injured and in hospital," the ICPA said.

When Muhammed Riyas (24) boarded the ill-fated Air India Express flight from Dubai on Friday he was ready to begin anew journey in his life. The youth from Mukkottukurissi, a small village in Palakkad, who was planning to get married in September, died on Friday night when the plane overshot the tabletop runway at Kozhikode and crashed 35 feet below. The wedding, earlier slated for July 14, had been postponed to September due to the Covid-19 situation. Riyas worked as a merchandiser with a firm in Dubai where had gone almost one-and-a-half years ago to join his elder brother.

A petition filed four years ago before the Kerala high court had alleged that mandatory safety audits are not being conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at Kozhikode airport. The case is still pending.

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Saturday announced awarding the Director General (DG) commendation DISC to three officers for their outstanding efforts during the rescue operations at Kozhikode airport. "DG CISF Rajesh Ranjan has announced to award DG's commendation DISC to Deputy Commandant/CASO, Kishore Kumar AV, Assistant Sub-Inspector Ajit Singh and Assistant Sub-Inspector Mangal Singh, in recognition of their outstanding efforts during the rescue operations at Calicut Airport," CISF said in a press note.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh met late Captain Deepak V Sathe's family members at their residence in Nagpur on Saturday. Captain Sathe was flying the Air India Express flight which crash-landed at Kozhikode airport, Kerala yesterday.