Gulf Air flight from Bahrain overshoots runway at Kochi (Cochin)
 

Plane skids off runway in Kochi: TV reports | Gulf Air flight from Bahrain overshoots runway | 2 Passengers Injured

Times of India Report

one report says aircraft deviated just before landing .now 7 injured with 1 being sent to hospital for broken bones.They say people jumped off the emergency exits in panic and that they didnt wait for ladders and hence the injuries.

Now on BBC
BBC News - Gulf Air plane skids off runway in India

From a local news channel. There is a footage of the final position of the aircraft. It "appears" that the aircraft departed the runway to the right [while landing on R27] and stopped just before the taxiway C4 almost right opposite the fire station.

Have the crew sat the Indian Air Force medical examination? If not I would expect this to be relevant in the DGCA final report. :}

... Writing this next to a picture of the plane showing inflated slides, I'm sure a ladder was needed... :hmm:

Looking at the decals aft of the wing, it was not Lewis driving it, was it? :E

According to TV here in Norway, the slides did not initially deploy, and that injuries where sustained when passengers jumped from the aft exits.

Did someone not arm the slides......and that they manually deployed them after the fact? :confused: :confused:

... Writing this next to a picture of the plane showing inflated slides, I'm sure a ladder was needed...


Probably not as witty as you first thought...

As is the custom, the DGCA has leaked some preliminary findings:

Business Line : Industry & Economy / Logistics :

Why would employees of a non-Indian airline have to submit to an IAF medical? Are we talking about having the right to fly in Indian airspace or their medical condition after the incident? If the latter why not Indian Civil Aviation dept?

He was being ironic

Someone should tell Gulf Air that the GP was cancelled. :ouch:

BBC reports that this occurred at 22:25 Zulu.

METAR's covering that period:

VOCI 29 0000Z 260/03KT 4000 HZ FEW008 SCT015 OVC080 26/24 Q1008 TEMPO VIS 2000M RA
VOCI 28 2330Z 280/05KT 4000 HZ FEW006 SCT015 OVC080 26/24 Q1008 NOSIG
VOCI 28 2300Z 000/00KT 4000 HZ FEW005 SCT015 OVC080 26/24 Q1008 NOSIG
VOCI 28 2130Z 290/05KT 3000 HZ SCT010 SCT080 26/24 Q1008 NOSIG
VOCI 28 2100Z 040/04KT 3000 HZ SCT010 BKN080 26/24 Q1008 NOSIG

Whilst not prejudging any reason for this incident, it does appear that there's a 1hr30min gap in METAR reports (between 21:30Z and 23:00Z), this being at variance with what's required by 'ICAO / Annex 3 / Metrological Services For International Air Navigation' which states the following: "Aerodrome reports include surface wind, visibility, runway visual range, present weather, cloud, air and dew-point temperature and atmospheric pressure, and are issued either half-hourly or hourly.", always remembering that India is indeed a member of ICAO.

In the BBC's report it is stated that "Officials said it was very windy and raining heavily at the time of the landing.". But this, however, would seem somewhat at odds with the METAR's listed above;... that is unless, within the 55 mins following the 21:30Z METAR, a thunderstorm had drifted in, but which was subsequently not reported by the local ATC (either directly, and / or seemingly definitely not within a METAR) ?!

M609, since the slides take approx 4-6sec to deploy, it's possible (some) pax may have run past the crew (very possible if panicking) and jumped on a slide which was not fully deployed... having seen this happen in the hangar you would actually get quite a fall even with a partially inflated slide.

I wouldn't think the doors were disarmed at that point of flight (they shouldn't be for sure), more likely that the pax may have got a bit out of control... a very high possibility especially if many were not regular flyers.

they call GF the airline of possibilities.........anything is possible :E

but the good thing they usually give two landings for the price of one even if you're not FF

Metars and actual conditions actually encountered during ops in some of these destinations are often at odds with each other...

Gulf Air standard practice is to disarm the slides only when the chocks are applied. So they would definately have been armed at this point.

However to keep with the F1 analogy, perhaps he should have changed from slicks to full wets. :p

The only pilot error here is landing in an indian airport thinking that they knew what the weather and runway conditions were because they had copied the ATIS.

Last time I asked if runway was contaminated with standing water, the irritated indian ATC answer was "it's raining..."

Have learnt from experience that if you expect the unexpected at Indian airports you still get surprised by the downright ridiculous.

Wind calm can easily mean calm from behind at 10kts.

It's often like watching a cow loading a musket !

..or the legendary:
"We have nine octas cloud at three hundred feet"
"But you can only have eight octas"
"No, no. I have seen eight octas, and this is much, much worse"

..and I'm still trying to get my head around the idea of a cow loading a musket.

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. :confused: ( 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."

Could they have taken the METAR off the website? The most unbelievable thing is that the TOI actually had a good well researched aviation article written for once. I was expecting something along the lines of: "All 4 of the 320s engines were working fine"

'Like a cow loading a musket' - just an old saying that conjures up a picture of ineptly trying the impossible. Something too daft for words but put into words.

VIDP TO VOTV ,VABB TO VECC:from June to October ..tempo 1500m SHRA, and if it is cloudy...make it 800m in TSRA/SHRA..and if its raining please read 500m in+TSRA/SHRA...jokers.

Go Around
 

Why did the pilot not do a Go Around? It has been said that when he came to the DH of 352', he lost visibility of the runway.But why did he still continue with the landing? The elevation of the aerodrome is 30'. So he had the chance to do a clean go around.

lets not speculate niksmathew, lots of things have been "said", put yourself in his shoes for a minute, and let the facts come out....

Local Media Reports
 

This is what the local media had to say this morning:

Gulf Daily News » Local News » Skills of Gulf Air pilots and crew help avert tragedy

Gulf Daily News » Local News » Pilots hailed for averting tragedy

Many of these places are just plain dangerous. They have unhelpful, sometimes obstructive ATC., with basic facilities, weather reports that have no resemblance to what is actually going on, runway surface conditions that are awful and the people in the tower are only interested in the aircraft registration and the number of peeps through security.

If it were not for the professionalism of the crew from the ME carriers who operate in and out of these places there would be many more incidents.

Unfortunately, all the Indian destinations are too important to the ME economies for what can be best described as modern day slave routes.

An example of a complete safety system...
 

As ever, it's good to see that after a thorough investigation. After looking at all the facts, downloading the QAR/CVR/FDR, interviewing the crew, measuring the site etc. that the DCGA have nailed the root cause. All that in two days! So all that remains is a jail sentence for the crew and the whole problem is solved.

"We've got the guilty parties, jailed them and also fined the airline to prevent re-occurance." said some monkey at the DGCA.

Incredulous India.

Air India - Yet Another Mishap averted at Kochi airport
 

Wow, that is a callous attitude to have... Unsympathetically typing away into the FMC with little sensitivity to the situation.:ouch:

Well at least this clearly non-airworthy craft has to be checked by Boeing before it's used again... well, once it's finished flying to Sharjah and back that is...:ooh:

I wonder where the media dream up the part about the aircraft flying to SHJ. It was flown to BOM for repairs in the morning.

And the blame game starts
 

...Boeing 737-800 aircraft...

...aircraft also jettisoned fuel before landing... :rolleyes:

Perhaps the DFDR and the DCVR will shead a more accurate pitcure of what occurred rather than the Time of India... the rag that prints all the news that's unfit to print?:}

Damn , why do our 737-800s not have fuel jettison too ? those Indians have all the fun.
Mind you , if he had entered 54 tonnes in the FMC , he would have thought it was light enough to land . How they burnt enough fuel in 90 minutes to get down to MLW is beyond me .oh wait , they have fuel jettison ............

seems like a bit of a Coch(in) up - glad no one was too severely injured but it seems hard to believe they weren't given the hegiht of the fall from the doors.:confused:
:=

Gulf Daily News » Local News » Skills of Gulf Air pilots and crew help avert tragedy

Gulf Daily News » Local News » Pilots hailed for averting tragedy



Read the articles. Nothing in them about actions the pilots took that averted tragedy.

Fancy headline but no meat in the article.