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Brazil crash raises questions in India.

By: Karthik :+: Under: Business
On: ⋅ July 19, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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Rain drenched runways, a pilots biggest problem in India. Image from dpicker.

Amidst calls for the Cogonhas airport in Sao Paulo to close as a result of Tuesday’s Airbus crash, Indian aviation authorities are taking a look at their infrastructure and everyone feels that changes need to be made.

Monsoon rains combined with short runways have caused nine aviation incidents / accidents in the past three months according the the article, the same conditions which led to the crash of the Tam Airbus in Brazil. It comes as news to me that some runways are avoided by certain airlines.

Even the country’s so-called long runways aren’t up to scratch. Says an A320 check pilot,”In the Emirates Operations Manual, the example of a bad runway is Mumbai airport runway 27.”

Singapore Airlines too does not land on Mumbai airport’s runway 14 as it has been classified ’sub-standard’ because of the air-traffic control tower standing a few metres away. “Runway 14 may be 9,596 feet but it has a displaced threshold, which means only 7,200 feet are available for landing. To make things worse, the end of the runway is waterlogged and slippery,” says a senior Boeing 747 commander.

India has a long history of sub standard infrastructure. Maybe this incident will serve as a wakeup call before something goes terribly wrong.

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