Air India Express Flight IX-812 accident at Mangalore airport

Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) announced (22-May-2010) Air India Express Flight IX-812 operated with B737-800 equipment (registration: VT-AXV) from Dubai to Mangalore was involved an accident at Mangalore Airport at 06:05 local time. Details include:

• Approach: The aircraft was following ILS approach for landing on Runway 24 and the pilot reported to air traffic control that it established an ILS approach about 10 miles from touchdown. Landing clearance was given at about 4 miles from touchdown. The aircraft touched down and overshot the runway;
• Air traffic control: ILS was operating as normal;
• Runway: Runway 24 at Mangalore airport is 2450m (approx 8000ft) with a safety area of 90m. This runway was commissioned in 2006 and has remained operational since;
• Weather: The weather conditions were normal with visibility of 6km, calm wind and no rain at the time of the incident;
• Aircraft: The aircraft was acquired in 4Q2007 and had no history of defects or malfunction;
• Aircraft Command: Aircraft was under the Command of Captain Glusica, who had 10,200 hours of flying experience and had last flown from Mangalore in Nov-2009. Captain HS Ahluwalia was the co-pilot, who was based at Mangalore and had 3,650 hours of flying experience, of which 3,350 hours was on B737 aircraft;
• Passengers: 160 passengers (137 adults, 19 children and four infants)
• Crew: Six;
• Survivors: Eight - four with minor injuries, three with major injuries and one unhurt;
• Compensation: The families of the deceased would be paid compensation as per international law and the injured as per the extent of injury;
• Control Centres: Air India opened up Control Centres at stations, including Managalore, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai Mumbai and Dubai;
• Flights for relatives: Air India also operated services from Mumbai to Mangalore and Dubai to Mangalore carrying the relatives of the deceased/survivors;
• Rescue team: A team of dedicated officers has also been dispatched to Mangalore to care for the injured and render all possible assistance to relatives of the deceased;
• Rescue operations: Launched by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Air India and the local administration;
• Investigation: DGCA has initiated an inquiry. [more - MoCA update (1) 22-May-2010] [more - MoCA update (2) 22-May-2010] [more - MoCA update (3) 22-May-2010]

Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced (23-May-2010) an investigation team arrived in Mangalore and commenced investigations into the accident. Inspection of runway and adjoining area was carried out at the accident site. The team initiated the wreckage inspection on the site. Four groups were formed:

• Engineering and wreckage group;
• Operations group;
• Air traffic control group;
• Aerodrome group;
• The wreckage group was made into two to three sub teams to search for various evidence;

After extensive searching, the status of the investigation is;

• CVR (cockpit voice recorder) recovered. Although affected by fire, it is expected to yield the desired information;
• DFDAU (digital flight data acquisition unit) which is a parallel unit of the DFDR (digital flight data recorder) and records flight parameter but for shorter duration has been recovered;
• Search for DFDR continues;
• Preliminary replay of air traffic control tapes has been carried out and detailed analysis is being carried out;
• Preliminary investigation of navigational, aerodrome and runway facilities existing at the time of accident has been completed;
• Necessary records pertaining to aircraft and air crew such as engineering, operations, training, air traffic control, fire fighting and allied services have been taken over for detailed analysis;
• Further investigation is in progress;
• Analysis of CVR and flight data will take about a fortnight. Similarly, analysis of records which are taken over will take a couple of weeks;
• Director Air Safety- DGCA, Bir Singh Rai, has been appointed as an inspector of accidents, who will be assisted by experts. [more - DGCA investigation]

Air India Chairman and Managing Director, Arvind Jadhav, announced (23-May-2010) interim compensation from Air India of the following amount:

• USD21,292 per passenger above the age of 12 years;
• USD10,646 per passenger below the age of 12 years;
• USD4,258 per injured passenger;

Interim compensation will be taken into account and adjusted against the final compensation to be assessed. This compensation is over and above the ex-gratia payment announced by the Prime Minister. Mr Jadhav added the Air India Flight Safety Team along with DGCA has commenced an investigation. [more - Air India]

Indian Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, expressed (22May-2010) profound grief at the Mangalore air tragedy. [more - MoCA]

Indian President, Smt Pratibha Devisingh Patil, expressed (22-May-2010) grief at the loss of lives. [more - Indian President]

Vice-President of India, M Hamid Ansari, condoled (22-May-2010) the loss of lives in the Air India Express accident. [more - Indian Vice President]

Boeing announced (21-May-2010) it is sending a team to provide technical assistance to the investigation at the invitation of the Indian authorities. [more - Boeing]

[more - Air India Express Update 1] [more - Air India Express Update 2] [more - Air India Express Update 3]

Air India announced (22-May-2010) a full emergency response team has been put in place at Mangalore. [more - Air India Express Update 4]

[more - Air India Express Update 5] [more - Air India Express Update 6]