Air India Express Skids on Landing, All Passengers Safe
Mangaluru: The Air India Express skidded at the Mangalore International Airport while it was landing at 5:40 PM on June 30.
According to reliable sources, the incident occurred when the flight was landing at the MIA.
The flight was carrying 189 passengers plus 6 crew members from Dubai, all the passengers and the crew are safe.
According to airport sources, the flight AXB384, B737-800, B737-800 Registration VTAYA, carried out missed approach at 5:32 PM and thereafter in the second attempt landed at Mangalore airport on runway 24 at 5:42 pm. The aircraft while turning on taxiway entered the grass area of the strip apparently due to high speed as per the observation of ATC.
All passengers were safe and de-boarded. There appears to be no damage to the aircraft and Air India Express Engineers are trying to tow the aircraft to the apron for further inspection.
The aircraft location in the strip is being assessed for clearance from ILS and Runway strip for resuming operations. The delayed departures are now being cleared with approval of DGCA.
One of the passenger speaking to mangalorean.com said, “It was a very very scary experience. The pilot had earlier itself mentioned that rains where expected and a bit of turbulence could be expected. We already started descending around 5.15 pm but then it started raining badly and the ground was not visible. The pilot was in touch with the air control room and also said some words like extensions etc which I didn’t understand as my ears were blocked because of landing and again taking off in between as the pilot couldn’t land. After flying around for 20 to 25 minutes the pilot amidst a lot of turbulence landed abruptly. We couldn’t come out for around more than half an hour. Then they came to pick us up. The luggage also took time to arrive. But I really appreciate the pilots who have taken a lot of trouble and efforts to keep us safe. God is really great. We were constantly praying. Praise the lord.”