BANGALORE: Could India's worst ever air disaster in over a decade, which claimed 158 lives, have been prevented? The answer is yes. If only the Civil Aviation Ministry had spent more time planning while preparing the blue print for the second runway at the Mangalore airport.
The table top runway, which has been described as a nightmare for pilots, is not a demon as it is made out to be, say pilots and aviation experts.
Roland Salian, a former aeronautical engineer with Air India and who has been associated with the Mangalore airport for decades, told Express that during the construction of the airport and, subsequently, the second runway, suggestions were made to the Ministry to build an extended metallic runway.
"The extended metallic runway is nothing but an additional 1000 meters of air strip, supported by pillars measuring 200 or 300 feet. This would help in cases of emergency." "Providing these facilities would have cost just Rs 200 crore. The extension of the runway can still be done at the Mangalore Airport.
If the same was approved and implemented earlier; the cost would have been recovered by averting this catastrophe and could have saved us the additional expenses. Now we can only be and sustain at the 'damage control mode', which is extremely expensive," he added.
The second runway at the Mangalore airport is 8,838 feet and the edges of the hill drop into the valley from a height of 300 feet.
