Pilot’s non-adherence to SOP probable cause of Karipur air crash, says report

MUMBAI: The Karipur landing accident of an Air India Express flight that killed 21 people in August last year occurred due to wrong decisions made by the commander, the co-pilot’s lack of assertiveness, the airline’s poor crew scheduling policy and a series of contributory factors like a faulty cockpit windshield wiper, heavy rain at Karipur, wrong selection of runway and incorrect windspeed information relayed to pilots, said the final investigation report released on Saturday.
On August 7, an AI Express Boeing 737-800 aircraft, operating a Kozhikode-Dubai flight with 184 passengers, including 10 infants and six crew members on board, crashed on landing at Karipur airport at 7.41pm. “The probable cause of the accident was the non-adherence to standard operating procedures by the commander,’’ said the report. The aircraft had touched down mid-way --- at 4,438ft on the 8,858ft runway. It sped off the runway at 155 kmph, crossing the safety area, hitting a navigation aid antenna before rolling down 110 feet from the table top hill airport. It slammed into the airport perimeter wall at 75kmph, the report said. The aircraft broke into three sections on impact, and both engines were completely separated from the wings.
Before operating the flight, AI Express had told the commander that he had to operate the next day’s flight out of Kozhikode to Doha. “The actions and decisions of the commander were steered by a misplaced motivation to land at Karipur to operate the next day morning flight. The unavailability of sufficient number of captains at Karipur was the result of faulty Air India Express HR policy,” said the report. “The commander had vast experience of landing at Karipur under similar weather conditions. This experience might have led to over-confidence leading to complacency and a state of reduced conscious attention..,’’ the report said.
The commander was taking multiple unprescribed anti-diabetic drugs that could have probably caused subtle cognitive deficits...,” it added.
After a failed attempt to land due to heavy rains, the pilots were making as second attempt to land on runway 28 when the air traffic controller “suggested runway 10 for landing, which the commander accepted without careful deliberation”, said the report. The controller did not caution the pilots about strong tail winds. Runway 10 had a tailwind of 29kmph, and not 18 kmph as reported to the pilots. Aircraft land and take off in head wind. In a tailwind landing, aircraft consume a longer length of runway to touch down and come to a halt.
The aircraft was tracking an unsafe descent to land, but the commander continued with the landing. The first officer called out for a ‘go-around’. He should have taken over the controls and done it, the report said. A go-around is a procedure performed when a pilot isn’t sure of a safe landing. The descent is aborted, the aircraft climbs and returns for a fresh attempt at approach and landing.
The AIX commander continued with the “unstabilised approach” and the aircraft landed beyond the touchdown zone, halfway down the runway, the report said. Thereafter, he increased the engine power up to 83%, as if to take off. “This burst of additional power kept the aircraft afloat and resulted in a long landing with touchdown at 4,438ft on the 8,858ft runway,’’ the report said. The aircraft overshot the runway.
Capt M Ranganathan, an air safety expert, said: “The report has identified it as pilot error. His decision-making was poor; when the wipers were malfunctioning, he should have diverted to the alternative airport. His compulsion to land in Kozhikode to operate the next day’s flight points to a very serious deficiency in Air India Express’ safety culture.”