As investigators sought the cause of a jetliner accident that killed 18 people, blame began to fall on the pilot and the hilltop runway.
The sky had turned black. Rain smeared the windows. Air India Express Flight 1344 was midair, roaring through a thunderstorm toward the city of Kozhikode’s tabletop runway, which has a sudden drop-off at its end and was known to be potentially dangerous. The pilot, a decorated military flier, circled the airport once, then twice. With visibility so bad, he radioed the control tower to switch runways. On his second attempt at landing Friday night, he apparently hit Runway 10 too late — more than a half mile into the 1.6-mile strip — and with the wind at his back, which was exactly the scenario that Indian aviation experts had warned against. “All the flights that land on Runway 10 in tailwind conditions in rain are endangering the lives of all on board,” said a report submitted to India’s civil aviation authorities in 2011. The plane, a Boeing 737 that was returning to southern India from Dubai, slid right off the rain-slicked runway, tumbled down a hillside and split in half. Indian officials say that 18 people, including both pilots, were killed and more than 150 injured. Looking at pictures of the wreckage taken on Saturday — with the skin of the plane ripped off and huge chunks of the cabin scattered across the mud — it is remarkable that more passengers weren’t killed. The plane was carrying 190 people. Rescue crews, including many villagers, rushed to the crash site within minutes and pulled people out. The plane apparently never caught fire; the relentless rain may have dampened any sparks. Survivors said they knew something was wrong the instant the wheels hit the ground. “The plane landed at such a high speed and then braked really hard,” said Latheesh Muttooly, who was sitting by a window. “There’s usually a jerk when you land, but this was much harder and then suddenly the plane started going faster.” The overhead bins burst open. Heavy pieces of luggage fell on people’s heads. “The next thing I heard was a loud crashing sound, the loudest sound I’ve ever heard,” Mr. Muttooly said. His face smashed into the seat back in front of him, in Row 15, splitting open his chin.
