Mangalore crash: Hearing reveals huge safety lapses

Mangalore: Early on May 22, an Air India flight from Dubai to Mangalore crashed; 158 people were killed.  The pilot had overshot the runway at Mangalore.(Read: 158 killed in crash, eight survivors)

Now emerging - a huge point of concern - that the Air Traffic Control tower got to work just two minutes before the pilot touched down.(See Pics: Mangalore Air Crash) 

He had approached Mangalore half an hour early.  At 6 am, the Air Traffic Control tower got to work and switched on its systems.  The flight from Dubai, IX812, was not expected till 6.30. But this flight routinely comes in early because of high tailwinds in the Dubai-Mangalore sector.  At 6.02 am, the flight landed.  At 6.03 am, it crashed into a valley.

So did the Air Traffic Control have enough time to prepare for the landing?  That's a major point of debate a public hearing that has just begun in Mangalore.  The court of enquiry has been set up at the request of the government; its report will be used by the Civil Aviation Ministry to improve flight safety. (See Pics: What went wrong)

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The court of enquiry is headed by Retired Air Marshall BN Gokhale.  ''Apart from the truth, the only thing we want is that there is no blameworthiness attached to it. There will be shortcomings in the system, but it will be important to find them to ensure they are plugged," he said.

Fifty people including some of the seven survivors of the accident will share what they saw and heard as the plane crashed and burst into flames.  Also helping to piece together what happened - Air India ground staff who were on duty, Air Traffic Officials from Mangalore, and those who work at the airport's Fire Departments.

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Day One of the hearing has revealed other major lapses that continue to possibly compromise passenger safety.

One half of the Mangalore "table top"  runway - notoriously tricky because it's built on a hill top with the sides and ends of the runway sloping down - is not visible from the ATC tower. (Read: What is a table-top airport)

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Also, the Mangalore Airport Fire Department is short-staffed - there are 30 firefighters, instead of the 40 required - that may have affected the speed of rescue operations that morning.