Monday, September 12, 2011

Gulf Air Airbus A320: Directorate General of Civil Aviation blames slippery runway for aircraft mishap.

T Ramavarman, TNN 
Sep 13, 2011, 06.00AM IST

KOCHI: The DGCA team probing the aircraft accident in which a Gulf Air A320 flight slipped off the runway at Cochin International airport on August 29 has found that the slippery runway may have contributed to the mishap. Meanwhile the airport authorities have ruled out any such possibilities.

"They (the probe team) had done some tests on the runway and have found that the rubber formation in the runway may have contributed to the skidding of the aircraft. They have detected some defects in the front wheel of the aircraft as well. Apart from the pilot's error these factors must have also contributed to the mishap,'' the DGCA sources told TOI here on Monday.

"The probe is still on, and we are analyzing DFDR (Digital Flight Data Recorder) data. We have also asked Gulf Air to supply us the details of the training given to the pilots, to assess whether they are properly trained," the DGCA officials said.

The officials of the Cochin airport however said tests conducted as recently as September 3 show that the runway's friction levels are much higher that what is internationally stipulated.

"As per the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) norms the friction coefficients of the runways should not go below 0.34, while the value was 0.61 to 0.86 till recently. On the day of the mishap the average value was hovering between 0.52 and 0.84. The value at the spot where the ill-fated aircraft touched the runway was 0.75 to 0.85. We did another test on September 3 and the value was above 0.5,'' airport director A C K Nair said.

However as part of proactive maintenance procedure, airport authorities are trying to further improve friction coefficient of the runway so that at every point the runway will have a minimum of 0.6 level, which will be almost double of the minimum required level advised by the ICAO, the airport officials said. .

The airport officials and Gulf Air officials said they had not yet received any report from the DGCA on the mishap so far.

"Until the report is received, and the inspections by the insurance company and Airbus authorities are completed, we will not be in a position to repair the aircraft. The crews are also not flying currently, pending the report of the investigation committee," the Gulf Air spokesperson said.

The airline also disclosed that the passenger who was injured in the mishap had already left the hospital after treatment.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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