An Air India Express Boeing 737-800 passenger jet, skidded off the runway while attempting to land at Calicut International airport (CCJ) in...
An Air India Express Boeing 737-800 passenger jet, skidded off the runway while attempting to land at Calicut International airport (CCJ) in Kerala, India at 1941 hrs.
The flight IX1344 was attempting to land at the CCJ table top runway, while it overshoot the runway. The aircraft came to rest in three pieces overshooting the runway and skidding into the urban road 40 ft below the runway level.
Despite the region experiencing adverse rainy Monsoon weather conditions, the reported visibility during the landing was a adequate 2000 m.
Skilled piloting by the Captain Deepak Sathe, an ex-Indian Air Force fighter pilot, who unfortunately died in the crash, has been lauded for taking measures to prevent an onboard fire by shutting down the engines and not steering the aircraft left or right.
The flight carried 190 passengers. Both pilots and 16 passengers died in the crash.
The IX1344 departed from Dubai (DXB), United Arab Emirates. The flight distance is about 2,674 km or 1,662 miles and flight time is 3 hours 55 minutes. The aircraft was operating as apart of the Vande Bharat repatriation flights scheduled due to the Corona Virus pandemic from UAE.
The flight was operated by a 13 year old Boeing 737-8 with registration VT-AXH, first flown in 2006. It was powered by two CFM-56 turbofan engines.
