Plane skids off Mangalore taxiway

All passengers and crew on board the Dubai-Mangalore flight are safe, the airport and the airlines said in separate statements.

An Air India Express flight veered off the taxiway after landing and got stuck into soft ground at the Mangalore airport on Sunday. The airport is among the six toughest runaways in India to land an aeroplane.

Tailwind and wet runway with inadequate braking action were reported to be the reasons behind the incident, it said. All passengers and crew are safe, and they were deplaned, it said (HT Photo)

All passengers and crew on board the Dubai-Mangalore flight are safe, the airport and the airlines said in separate statements.

According to a statement issued by the Mangalore airport, the Air India Express Dubai to Mangalore plane veered off the taxi way after landing. The aircraft got stuck in the grass, it said. The operations at the airport are normal and the aircraft will be towed soon, it added.

“AI Express aircraft VT-AYA, operating IX 384, Dubai to Mangalore on June 30, after landing on runway 24 while vacating the runway to the right side, has gone off the taxiway into soft ground,” the airlines said.

Tailwind and wet runway with inadequate braking action were reported to be the reasons behind the incident, it said. All passengers and crew are safe, and they were deplaned, it said.

According to Airport Authority of India classification, the Mangalore airport is considered one of the toughest for pilots to land an aeroplane thanks to the table-top runaway which requires a great deal of precision. The airport, which was inaugurated in 1951, is located on top of a hill and the runaway landing approaches extreme edges on the sides of the hill and hence it is called table-top.

“The edges of the hill drop into the valley from a height of 300 feet with a short distance of 500 metres on the east side of the runway and 83 metres to 25 metres on the western side,” said AAI description of the runaway.