Catastrophic Air India Plane Crash in Mangalore (Report)

In what could be one of the catastrophic India’s air disaster in over a decade (and third worst in the past 50 years), 158 of 166 persons on board have been killed in Mangalore Air India Plane Crash.

Image credit: ndtv.com

The Air India Express flight (IX-812, two-and-a-half-year-old Boeing 737-800), a plane of Air India’s low budget carrier was flying from Dubai (UAE) to Mangalore (India) on Saturday May 22, 2010 with 160 passengers and 6 crew members on board. On landing the plane in Mangalore Bajpe Airport’s 8000 ft ‘table-top’ runway, Serbian pilot Zlatko Glusica missed the landing spot, flew beyond the touchdown point, overshot  the runway by 610 meters (about 2000 ft), tried to stop by hard braking. It was at this time that the plane’s tyres burst and the plane veered violently, on the way hit an antenna at the edge of the runaway. At this point, the plane broke and split in two,  went down a valley & burst into flames. Out of 160 passengers & six crew members on board, only eight persons miraculously survived the crash after fell out.

Here are the graphical illustrations of the fatal landing:

Image credit: PTI (Press Trust of India) – ptinews.com

Another one:

Image credit: KBK Infographics via Rediff.

A Video illustration on How did the plane crashed?

Complete coverage of this devastating plane crash (pictures, videos, reports, survivor stories, updates…) can be found HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Air India crash in Mangalore: Data box found – The conversation between the pilots in the cockpit has been found. Investigators are putting it together to determine what went wrong. Continue Reading…

Did the pilot of Air India plane IX-812 attempt a last-minute take off? Crucial evidence (Black Box = Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU)) that could finally unravel the mystery behind Saturday’s crash in Mangalore that left 158 people dead has been found and investigators are now trying to find answers to questions like these as they look into what could have possibly gone wrong. Official sources say it will take at least two weeks to analyze the data. Continue Reading…

Info to my Twitter friends:

What’s more haunting: 17 year old tweep Ms., Harshini Poonja (@netizentwo) and her parents was going to Mangalore to attend a cousin’s wedding, were among the 158 killed. Here is her final tweet before she boarded the fateful flight… journey she would never complete. (Via Source)

Update: Stumbled across Harshini’s Blog

From one of her posts (which unfortunately, sums it up):

“We are all an end product of time. It takes a toll on all of us.”

“Never regret the price you pay to become who you are.”

God knows whats going to happen. Be happy for everything thats there now.

Please spend a moment to pray for these torn souls. May God Rest their Souls in Peace . My prayers goes out to the friends & families who have lost their loved ones in this incident. I can’t visualize their pain. Watching human life end this way is depressing, here’s hoping such a thing doesn’t happen again to anyone.

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