Calicut is one of the three tabletop airports in India, runways hinder rescue operations

An Air India Express plane from Dubai to Kozhikode skidded off the runway during landing at the Karipur Airport in Kerala on August 7.

A Vande Bharat Mission flight, it had 190 people onboard -- 184 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew members. Sources told Moneycontrol that both pilots -- the captain as well as the first officer -- have died in the crash. Fourteen people are dead and over 130 injured in the crash, Malappuram Superintendent of Police told news agency ANI.

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This is the second incident where a tabletop runway has been involved in an airplane crash.

There are three tabletop airports in India from where scheduled flights operate. These are Mangalore, Kozhikode and Lengpui. Due to the undulating terrain and constraints of space, these airfields require extra skill and caution while carrying out flight operations.

The hazard of undershooting and overshooting, in particular, can lead to grave situations, as was the case in the Mangalore airplane crash in 2010.

These table top runways also have a problem of access roads around the airfield, which may need to be used in case of aircraft accidents. The narrow and winding roads can delay and hinder the rescue operations.

The Mangalore Airport, which is situated on the western coast of India, is subject to active southwest monsoon conditions between June-September every year. In May, generally pre-monsoon weather conditions prevail with clouds and occasional thunder showers. The airport is situated on a tabletop plateau with surrounding undulating terrain and valleys.

The airport also witnesses phenomena like mist and low clouds at the edge of the airfield. However, in periods other than the SW monsoon, the weather is generally fair to fine with good visibility.

The short runway also restricted the type of aircraft operations. In view of incidents of overshooting the runway at Jaipur and Port Blair by Boeing 737-200 aircraft, it was decided to extend the runways at both these airports and at Mangalore.

A new runway was constructed in the available land adjacent to the existing runway. The length of new runway is 2,450 metres, which facilitates operations by aircraft such as Boeing 737-800 and Airbus 320. The new runway 24/06 provides night landing facilities and an ILS Cat-I from the earlier offset ILS. The rescue and fire fighting services were upgraded to category 7.