It was a close shave for passengers travelling in an Air India Express flight arriving in Mangaluru, as the aircraft veered off the main taxiway while landing at the Mangalore International Airport around 6 pm on Sunday. All 183 passengers are safe and deboarded the plane after it came to a halt on a grassy area in the airport. All operations at the airport were suspended after the incident occurred.
The IX384 Air India Express aircraft coming from Dubai to Mangaluru ended up on the grass after overshooting the runway by some distance, as per airport authorities.
In the Mangalore International Airport, the table top runway is on top of a hill. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been informed about the incident and an internal investigation will be conducted to ascertain why the aircraft overshot the runway.
The incident evoked memories of the horrific 2010 plane crash at the same airport which killed 158 people. On May 22, 2010, a Boeing 737-800 overshot the runway and plunged down a gorge at the end of the runway. Investigations revealed that the pilot was asleep when the crash occured. The cockpit voice recorder picked up the sound of the pilot snoring before the crash.
In India, apart from Mangaluru, airports at Kozhikode in Kerala and Lengpui in Mizoram have table top runways