Flight 812 arrived half-an-hour early

The flight arrival timing as per schedule is 6.30 am but the mishap took place at about 6.02 am. It is thus evident that the pilot had made the touch down on the runway before the schedule.  Sources in the airport indicated that the plane was landed without obtaining necessary clearance from the Air Traffic Control (ATC).

However, ATC Division Deputy General Manager Pradeep said they had given clearance to the pilot to land the aircraft.  About the early arrival of flight, he said it is quite common for some flights arrive before the scheduled time of arrival. “In such case, we give them necessary clearance to land the plane on the runway,” he said.

Sources said the commander of the plane Captain Z Glusica lost control as he made the touch down in the middle of the runway instead of at the starting point. The efforts made by the pilot to take off again went futile and finally, the plane overshot the runway, sources said.

Questions are now being raised as to how safe is the airport and the runway.
Is the infrastructure including runway upto the standards? Yes, says former director of Mangalore Airport M R Vasudev, under whose tenure the new terminal, runway and various other infrastructure were developed.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Vasudeva termed Mangalore Airport as ‘world class’ and added that the new 8,038 feet runway is more than enough for a Boeing aeroplane to land.  “The mishap might have occurred due to pilot error or some technical snag. Possibilities of structural defects of runway is out of question because stringent quality checks preceded the laying of the runway. Let us not get into the speculation and blame game because the actual reason will be exposed through a proper inquiry after recovering the black box,” he added.