AFTER THE DGCA ITS THE IMD THAT'S BEEN CAUGHT NAPPING!!
Courtesy TOI:
The pilots would have gone through the 3am and 3.30am METAR reports. The 3.30am and 4am METAR reports for Cochin airport were not available on the government website and it is also not known whether these reports were transmitted to the pilots. But the METAR reports for 3am and 4.30am - that is the report issued about an hour before the accident and one issued 35 minutes after the accident - showed good weather.
The 3am report indicates 5 knot winds - acceptable for the size of an A320 - and speaks of clouds at 1000 feet and 800 feet. It ends by saying there will be no significant change in weather in the next hour or so. Similarly, the 4.30am report indicates no surface wind and few clouds, though it says that the sky will be overcast at 800 feet.
"The pilot said that he was suddenly assailed by strong winds and gust of rain after he descended below decision height," said Director General of Civil Aviation Bharat Bhushan. "But the inquiry is still on. So we need to see what the real conditions were," he added.
( No METAR how will you know the real conditions now??)
"The 3am and 4.30am METAR reports are very misleading," said a senior commander. The pilots would have used the 3am METAR report to plan their landing. "There is nothing adverse reported in this report. It gave pilots an idea that the weather is fine, which was not the case" he added.
"A pilot needs enough pre-warning to set his approach speed as it depends on wind and gust value," he added.
METAR reports are issued by the Indian Meteorological Department every 30 minutes. If a change in weather condition is expected to take place within this 30 minute gap, then another report called SPECI is sent to the pilots giving details about the change. If the report ends with `NOSIG', as was the case on Monday morning, it means there will be no significant change over the next hour or so. Officials from IMD were not available for comment.
"If the weather is different than what is reported, the pilot can be taken by surprise. That is what seems to have happened," said Capt Mohan Ranganathan, an air safety expert. "Incorrect runway information has been the cause of several accidents in wet conditions worldwide."