A senior aviation safety expert has cautioned against allowing flights to land on a tabletop runway at Kozhikode airport during wet weather conditions.
Capt Mohan Ranganathan, a member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Committee in India, said Friday's fatal crash should have been prevented.
An Air India Express Boeing 737 from Dubai to Kerala crash-landed at Kozhikode, formerly Calicut, airport on Friday night.
The plane overshot the airstrip, plunged into an 11-metre gorge and split into two, killing 18 people and injuring more than 100.
"This was a disaster waiting to happen," Capt Ranganathan told The National.
"Runway 10 in Calicut should never be used in a tailwind and when it’s raining.
This was a disaster waiting to happen. Runway 10 in Calicut should never be used in a tailwind and when it's raining
“If the runway is wet it is positively dangerous, so that is why we had voiced our objections and said, 'If you do not prevent that, you are going to have an accident.' We wrote that in 2011.”
Capt Ranganathan was part of an advisory panel set up by India's Civil Aviation Ministry after an Air India Express crash at Mangalore airport in May 2010 killed 158 passengers from Dubai.
He described Mangalore airport as "equally dangerous" with a similar runway on a table top, raising the risk of an aircraft plunging into the gorge if it overshot the runway.
Capt Ranganathan said planes larger than a Boeing 737 or an Airbus 320 should not be allowed to land on Runway 10 at all.
“Both Kozhikode and Mangalore are definitely unsuitable for wide-body aircraft, not just in the rains, at any time,” said Capt Ranganathan.
He said no action was taken on the committee’s recommendations.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation had not responded to Capt Ranganathan's comments.
The Civil Aviation Ministry said an investigation was ongoing. There were 184 passengers and six crew on board when it came down.
The pilot requested permission from air-traffic control to land on Runway 10 instead of Runway 28 in Kozhikode, Indian media reported.
Capt Ranganathan said Runway 28 might not have been an option because of reduced visibility with heavy cloud cover.
He said Runway 10 was not flat and had an insufficient safety buffer.
“It’s like an inverted 'V' with a downslope,” Capt Ranganathan said.
“What we found during the audit is that if an aircraft were to reject take-off it would go off the end of the runway, and there is no way the pilot could stop it because of the slope.”
He said the casualties would have been higher if it were a larger plane.
“It would not be 20 to 150 people dying, it will be about 400 people dying in an accident,” Capt Ranganathan said.
More passengers survived in Kozhikode because the wings did not splinter and start a fire.
In the Mangalore crash a decade ago, also in wet conditions, the plane plunged into a forested valley and burst into flames, with firefighters struggling to reach the site.
“This aircraft also would have caught fire if the wings had broken. But since the wings did not break, there was no fuel spilled,” Capt Ranganathan said.
“In Calicut the drop is only about 30 metres. In Mangalore, the drop was 100 metres The wings broke with the impact and fuel spilt."
Others have called for action to prevent another tragedy.
Dr Azad Moopen, managing director of Aster hospitals in the UAE and India, said the length of the Kozhikode runway was “compromised” and expansion was critical.
Dr Moopen said it was a “miraculous escape” for the passengers.
“Let us not lose any more lives,” he said.
“Calicut Airport has a 9,000-metre tabletop runway, which is not enough for safe landing during inclement weather and poor visibility conditions, especially in the night due to the hilly surroundings.”
Dr Moopen called on state and federal governments to avoid another disaster.
“Political parties and people’s representatives must take this up as top priority, as the government has already decided to acquire the land and the airport authority had agreed to allot the required funds to proceed with runway expansion,” he said.
In the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, sent condolences to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the crash on Friday night.
"You remain in our prayers during these difficult times," Sheikh Mohamed wrote on Twitter.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz
Director: Kushan Nandy
Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Jatin Goswami
Three stars
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
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Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
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Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
