Posted on 05/21/2010 7:39:09 PM PDT by markomalley
All 169 people on board were feared killed when a passenger plane overshot the runway in southern India and crashed early Saturday, an official said.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
Yes, that’s the one.
British Citizen of Serbian origin.
10000+ flying hours. 20+ cycles from the concerned airport. That's what matters - not his origin.
As far as the "experts" who are interviewed on the TV are concerned, most of them are blithering idiots more interested in their 15 mins of fame. The channels they appear on are even worse.
My husband travels back and forth to India quite a bit...and often on Air India. I got a horrible chill when I read this!
I have not even read the article, but let me guess.
Does it declare that this is NOT TERRORISM?!!!
I say I won’t fly anymore every time I go to the airport, but I somehow end up doing it again and again.
Yes, I recall reading that archeologists found that the St. Thomas church was really a sixth century Armenian church complete with the Nestorian cross in it. The Portuguese were the ones who planted the story in the 15th century after taking over the Armenian church. The Portuguese were ruling parts of India at that time. I’ll try to dig out the information for you.
There have been some ‘implied’ statements, but mostly the speakers on the Indian tv channel have been saying “Wait for the inquiry (investigation) facts to come out, THEN we will determine”—still seems suspicious, they say it was a ‘new’ plane, and both pilot and copilot were ‘seasoned’ (pilot had apparently landed at that same runway at least 19 times before, I’m listening to (I think) Praful Patel, in charge of Air India? He’s saying that ‘everything appeared normal, like any other day’ concerning the landing before the crash.
No weather problems. The runway was dry...the tire ‘burst’ on its own? With ‘help’ from terrorists? Don’t know at this time. Said the plane was burning ON THE RUNWAY before going over the edge and plunging into the valley (jungle area); the plane broke in half as it went over? Lots of questions to be answered.
Purely based on reports that the pilot touched down 2000 ft down the runway, it seems that instead of going around the pilots decided to put it down and banged it down on the runway. This caused the tyre/s to burst and the plane to veer off the runway, hit the localiser and go down the hill. Again, this is purely conjecture on my part and only the black boxes and the ATC together can shed more light on this accident. The ATC is strangely silent. They should have seen what happened.
Again, there seems to be no obvious indications of a terror attack. A similar accident happened to an American Airlines B737 a few weeks ago in Jamaica - overshoot, aircraft broke up - but on a beach and all got out. In Brasil 2 yrs ago, a TAM A320 overshot the runway , went down the hill on the other side and crashed into a commercial building. No survivors. Air France A340 in Toronto also went into a small ditch after a long landing in bad weather. Swift action by the crew saved everyone before the plane burnt.
Happens far too often.
God help them all...such a tragedy.
I wish you good luck and all calmness with your flight.
I have a granddaughter flying home from Rome tomorrow.
It’s always a worry, but with lots of prayers, she will make it home safe.
That’s three big crashes lately—Poland, Libya, India.
Thank you, Palladin! God is in control, even though events like this make it seem like He isn’t! I’ll send a prayer up for your granddaughter’s flight to arrive safe and sound.
Per Wikipedia, the runways at Mangalore International Airport are:
09/27: asphalt, 5,300 feet
06/24: concrete, 8,038 feet
Again per the Wikipedia article on the airport (take it with a grain of salt), IX 802 went off the end of the longer runway—runway 24—and into the gorge on the west side of the airport. 8,000 feet is far more runway than needed to safely operate a 737 in most conditions. From initial impressions, it has the hallmarks of a classic pilot error crash, but it’s way too early to tell.
}:-)4
}:-)4
Otherwise it looks as you say, it looks like pilot error.
I think it would be higher as Mangalore is a specifically Catholic part (check wikipedia for Managalorean Catholics), so probably 1/10th to 1/5th of the plane could have been Christian.
Most Americans are entirely unaware that the most pro-US foreign country in the world is India. It is also one of the only countries where George W. Bush is more highly regarded than in the US. The reason for this is that during the period of Indian socialism and economic isolation (1947-91), Indians were fed a constant diet of anti-American, anti-capitalism propaganda. The utter failure of India’s socialist policies, combined with the emergence of the Indian-American community as the wealthiest ethnic group in the US, led to a deep appreciation for a socioeconomic system proven to empower Indians. As a democracy, Indians could understand America more readily than the Chinese or Arabs could. All this has led to a nation with 3 times the population of Europe trending towards becoming one of America’s closest economic, political, ideological, and military allies.
http://futurist.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/03/does_the_world_.html India is one of the only countries where the 2004 reelection of George W. Bush was received as overwhelmingly positive. The accumulated frustration of younger Indians from having to suffer through decades of leftist-socialist policies and the condescending multiculturalism of Western pseudointellectuals has whet a great appetite for advancement. http://futurist.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/02/president_bush_.html
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