Mangalore aircrash final report made public

Nearly two years after the Mangalore air crash claimed 158 lives, the final report of the Court of Inquiry was on Friday made public, with the investigators blaming Capt Z Glusica for failing to discontinue an 'unstabilised approach'.

The CoI, headed by former Vice Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Bhushan Nilkanth Gokhale, had found that the direct cause of the accident was Glusica's "failure to  discontinue the unstabilised approach and his persistence in continuing with the landing, despite three calls from the First Officer (H S Ahluwalia) to 'go around' and a number of warnings from EGPWS (enhanced ground proximity warning systems)".

Though the main findings of the CoI had been given out on its submission in October 2010 itself, the entire report was put up on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation website on Friday.

The report said the final touchdown of the Boeing 737-800 on the morning of May 22, 2010, was "at about 5,200 feet from the beginning of Runway 24, leaving only about  2,800 feet to the end of the paved surface, to stop the aircraft."

Soon after landing, the Captain had initiated a "rather delayed 'go around' or an attempted take-off, in contravention to Standard Operating Procedure laid down by the manufacturer, Boeing", the report said.

The aircraft had overshot the runway as its right wing hit the Instrument Landing System localiser structure. It then rammed into the airport boundary fence and fell into a gorge.

Among a series of recommendation to avoid such accidents and incidents, the CoI had sought the setting up of an Independent Civil Aviation Safety Board "urgently, in view of rapid growth of aviation in the country".