AIR INDIA EXPRESS FLIGHT 812
On May 22, 2010, Air India Express Flight 812 crashed on landing at Mangalore, India. The captain had continued an unstabilized approach, despite three calls from the first officer to "go around", resulting in the aircraft overshooting the runway, falling down a hillside and bursting into flames. Of the 166 people on board, 158 were killed.
Air India Express Flight 811/812 is a daily round trip between Mangalore and Dubai. The outbound flight 811 was uneventful, and landed at Dubai at 23:44. The airplane was serviced and refuelled. The same flight crew operated the return leg, Flight 812. The flight departed Dubai International Airport at 01:06. There was no conversation between the two pilots for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, because the captain was asleep. The first officer was making all the radio calls. The captain was Zlatko Glušica, who was a former employee of JAT Airways of Serbia, with over 10 000 hours of flying. Glušica was a British and Serbian national. The first officer was Harbinder Singh Ahluwalia, who was a former employee of Jet Airways, and had joined Air India Express in 2009. Both pilots were killed in the accident.
The Mangalore airport is one of three airports in India having table top runways, that require heightened awareness and a very precise landing approach. Situated in a hilly area, the airport is one of seven Indian airports designated as a "critical airfield" by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Air India had made a special qualification requirement, that only the captain shall carry out the take off and landing. The captain Glušica had made a total of 16 landings in the past at this airport, and the first officer Ahluwalia had operated as a co-pilot on 66 flights at this airport.
The aircraft was high on approach, and touched down on the runway much farther than normal. Despite the EGPWS warnings and calls from the first officer to go around, the captain had persisted with the approach in unstabilised conditions. Short of touchdown, there was yet another call from the first officer, "Go around captain...We don't have runway left". However, the captain had continued with the landing. The aircraft overshot the runway, and finally plunged over the edge of the table top, bursting into flames. With 158 fatalities, Flight 812 remains the deadliest accident involving the Boeing 737NG aircraft.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-8HG(SFP), registered as VT-AXV. It was one of the few 737s with Short Field Performance package, to use for landing in airports with short runways.
NOTABLE AVIATION ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS