CHENNAI: Regional Executive Director (South) of the Airports Authority of India D Devaraj, who returned from Mangalore on Monday, said that though the Black Box (Digital Flight Data Recorder) of the ill-fated Air India Express aircraft that crashed on Saturday was yet to be found, investigating teams from the DGCA were picking up evidence and critical aircraft components from the crash site to determine among other things the throttle and breaking positions of the plane.
He told Express that the Mangalore airport resumed full-fledged operations on Monday with the ‘route radar’, which was not in operation when the mishap occurred, back in action.
Not one to rule out human error, he added, “According to international norms, 7,500 feet runway is more than sufficient for a Boeing 737. The runway at Mangalore is 8,000 ft long. It appears that the pilot of the ill-fated plane wanted to go around (jargon for take off) at the last minute after finding that he had overshot the runway,” he said.
“There is no doubt that the airport is as per the ICAO and DGCA aerodrome standards. In fact, on May 15 we inaugurated a new terminal building and AAI offered to release Rs100 crore more for extending this runway by 1,000 feet and development of the airport building. Post-extension, flights with full load can land and take off. At present, Airbus 321 and 310 are landing there,” he said.
Explaining the snag in the route radar, Devaraj said a coupling in the device got jammed and needed replacement. The problem was fixed on Monday.
“The non-availability of the route radar cannot be blamed for the crash as the pilot was already in the ILS (Instrument Landing System) within five-seven nautical miles,” he said. Mangalore airport caters to an average of 32 arrivals and departures on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, DGCA chief Dr Nazim Zaidi said that the search for the Black Box was still on. He ducked a query on the Black Box, when pointed out that it is supposed to send out beeps to help identify its location. Zaidi merely said: “I can’t tell you anything more. We are just looking.”
Was the Emergency Locator Beacon working?
Curiously, there has been no official word about the emergency beacon that should have been on the tail end of the aircraft, giving rise to doubts whether it was in working condition at all.
According to aviation experts, distress radio beacons, also known as emergency beacons, ELT, or Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB), aid in the detection and location of boats, aircraft and people in distress.
They are radio beacons that interface with Cospas-Sarsat, the international satellite system for search and rescue operations.
They send out ultra high frequency signals that can be picked up by any satellite.
So, did the beacon of the ill-fated IX 182 send out distress signals? There are no answers.