The Hindu Business Line : Claustrophobia in the air

Are Indian airports safe? Why are illegal constructions permitted in restricted airport zones? Are the surrounding areas easily accessible for rescue efforts? The authorities should ask themselves these questions instead of boasting of “world-class airports”.

High-rise buildings on one side and slums on the other… Risk factors at Mumbai airport.

A. Ranganathan

Claustrophobia is usually described as a fear of enclosed places. A more accurate description might be “a fear of not having an easy escape route”. 2008 has seen 111 air safety incidents worldwide, almost half of which resulted in fatal or ‘hull-loss’ accidents. While the total number of hull losses was more than the 10-year average, the death toll in these accidents was less.

This spurt in the accident rate has spurred the safety conscious world into action. The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA have initiated action to address fatigue as a factor in accidents. There is a concerted move to reduce the duty time and increase the rest period of pilots.

Some of the accidents resulting in loss of lives or complete destruction of the aircraft should raise concern in India. The British Airways 777 accident in London Heathrow, has been attributed to fuel contamination because of ice formation. The aircraft had flown under extremely cold conditions. Safety recommendations have been initiated to overcome this problem. While approaching Heathrow airport, the aircraft experienced a sudden partial power loss on both engines, and the aircraft crashed short of the runway. Emergency services were able to reach the aircraft within seconds.

On August 20, 2008, a Spanair Flight JK5022 carrying 172 people on the MD-80 aircraft, crashed immediately after take off and 154 people died in that accident. The investigation report is yet to be published. There is a suspicion of overloading and a power loss on take-off. The crash took place within the airport perimeter and fire service equipment was able to reach the site immediately.

On September 14, 2008, Aeroflot-Nord flight 821, a Boeing-737-500, belonging to a branch of the national airline Aeroflot, was on a flight from Moscow to Perm, near the Ural mountains. It crashed short of the runway, killing all 88 on board. The accident site was near the trans-Siberian railway track and it shut down rail traffic for a considerable period of time.

On June 10, 2008, a Sudanair Airbus 310 crashed on landing in rain, killing ten on board.

On April 15, 2008, a Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 crashed in Congo. The aircraft reportedly suffered a tyre-burst on take-off run at high speed. The take-off was aborted but the pilots were unable to prevent an overrun. The aircraft rammed through the airport boundary into the nearby town of Birere before it broke apart and caught fire. The aircraft came to rest in a crowded market street, where it collided with buildings. There were 50 fatalities and several injured in the accident.

The glaring difference in the rescue efforts in the accidents that happened in the West and the ones in Africa was in the speed and quality of response. The world was witness to the exceptional rescue effort in Toronto in 2005, when an Air France A340 over-ran the runway while landing in rain. The aircraft was completely destroyed in the post-crash fire but all 309 on board survived because of the rescue effort.

The two accidents in Africa this year showed the problems that result when the quality of the equipment as well as the speed of rescue are hindered. In the Congo accident, due to the lack of accessibility of the accident site, rescuers used buckets of water to try and extinguish the fire.

Two weeks back, an APFC Cessna aircraft crashed into a residential area near Begumpet airport. The pilots died and rescue efforts were hindered because of the crowded locality. It was fortunate that the size of the aircraft was small and the impact damage was minimal. Fire-engines had difficulty reaching the accident site.

How safe are our airports?

Are Indian airports safe? The authorities should ask themselves this question, instead of blatantly boasting of “world-class airports”. Are the surrounding areas clear of obstructions? Why were illegal constructions permitted in the restricted airport zones? Are all the surrounding areas easily accessible for rescue efforts?

The International Civil Aviation Organisation, of which India is a member-state, has set several Standards on airport construction. One of the areas, where there is a requirement of a 13-mile radius zone to be kept free of bird activity, is blatantly violated or ignored by Indian authorities.

Bird strike damage to aircraft and engines can be catastrophic when combined with other performance criteria. A fully-loaded aircraft taking off towards the west in Mumbai airport, is theoretically capable of climbing out safely even with a loss of one engine. If you find empty seats on a hot summer day when the ground traffic personnel tell you that the flight is full, it is due to the weight restriction.

All take-off weights are based on the possible loss of an engine and a degraded climb. This is the precaution that all airlines take and it is a mandatory requirement. Training profiles of pilots include extensive repetitions of engine failure recovery exercises in the simulator.

Modern jet engines are extremely reliable. That is the reason why “ETOPS” (extended twin operations) clearances have been given for large two-engine aircraft on long-range flights over the ocean. Yet the regulations require the take-off weight to be restricted, assuming an engine failure on take-off. This regulation cannot be diluted saying that “we have had no engine failure for the last several years” and airlines can carry more weight. Safety assumes that prevention is better than cure.

Political considerations have resulted in gross violations in sanctioning high-rise constructions and indiscriminate building activity around several airports in India. An airport such as Mumbai cannot handle the kind of accident that happened at Heathrow.

The steep glide path angle will result in the aircraft crashing down on the hills and the slums in the approach path. The crowded streets and maze of buildings will prevent speedy rescue.

Similarly, were an accident to take place immediately after take-off, here again, one is confronted with high rise buildings and crowded streets. A Begumpet-like accident involving a large aircraft would be catastrophic in Mumbai. The location of the fuel storage tanks in the north-west corner of the airport is another danger, if an aircraft were to crash, like what happened to the Spanair flight in Madrid.

Are we prepared to act before a major accident happens or are we going to ignore the warnings in the belief that we have not had a major accident for several years?

(The author is an airline captain with 35 years flying experience. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in.)

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