New Delhi: A preliminary report of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has found that the Gulf Air incident was caused because of incorrect landing technique by the flight crew.

The report says that due to non-alignment with the central line of the runway during touchdown, the aircraft veered towards the right of the runway. It damaged four runway edge lights and rolled on the sidestrip causing the nosegear to collapse.

The report adds that the crew of Gulf Air have to be available for questioning for further investigations of the incident.

The Gulf Air incident occurred on Monday morning, when a Gulf Air plane carrying 137 passengers skidded off the runway at Kochi airport in Kerala. Seven passengers were injured in the incident.
 
The incident occurred at 3:55am when the Bahrain-Kochi flight shot 5-10 metres off the runway. It was an Airbus A-320 plane.

Airport director ACK Nair had said, "The runway has been closed for bigger aircraft following the incident.''

Reports say one of the wings of the plane also broke off. Officials say heavy rain and wind was responsible for the incident.


(With PTI inputs)



 

Tags: Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Gulf Air incident at Kochi