NEW DELHI (INDIA) – Investigators in India on Sunday began examining the black box of the Boeing-737 that overshot a runway and crashed into a valley, killing 18 people in the southern state of Kerala.
The Air India Express flight, which was bringing stranded Indians from Dubai due to the coronavirus, overshot the runway of the Calicut International Airport amid heavy downpour on Friday.
It fell into a valley and the fuselage broke into two.
Arun Kumar, who heads India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said the country would open the recovered transcripts to international investigators, as well as Boeing, which is the manufacturer of the aircraft.
“Only after conducting a thorough and unbiased probe, can we tell what exactly happened,” he said.
The runway, which is 2,700 metres long, is a table-top with steep descents at one or both sides.
On Saturday, Kumar told CNN-News18 that the pilot of the ill-fated aircraft made an aborted landing attempt into a headwind. He then made a second approach with a tail wind, landing 1,000 metres down the runway.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field
