Bengaluru: In a miraculous event reported on July 11, 2023, a private plane landing with its nose gear up at HAL Airport was virtually a carbon copy of a similar incident on the same runway involving an Indian Airlines plane 36 years ago. In the cockpit, Captain Mohan Ranganthan then had successfully landed the jet carrying 69 passengers, including Former Minister Raghupathi, from Chennai to Bengaluru.
Capt. Ranganathan, an aviation safety expert, recounted his flight on IC 513.
Speaking to the mediapesons, he said “On November 1, 1987, it was the first morning flight. I was flying the VT-EDS with Captain Elias. When we had a problem landing, we just followed the rules.”
“I had red on the nose gear when we got to the finals and took the gear down, and I knew it wasn’t locking down. So we recycled, but it remained red. I then flew low over the control tower to see whether they could see my landing gear. They confirmed that they could see it, indicating that the gear is out but not locked. Then I informed the cabin crew to brace themselves for an emergency landing.”
When the ATC asked if the runway needed to be foamed, he dismissed the idea. “Foaming is not recommended.” I landed on the main wheel and tried to keep the nose up as long as possible. Because I was using Runway 27 on the HAL, I wanted to lower the nose down almost on the hump to reduce the impact. My speed had also dropped to 65 knots. After landing, all passengers were evacuated.
The employees of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation discovered a crack in the Nose Gear Actuator.
When asked about the event on July 11, he remarked, “They should not have foamed the runway.” The rescue fire department vehicles’ crash tenders have a limited supply of foam. So, if you use it for the runway, and if the airplane caught fire, water alone would not have been able to put it out.” He also thought the pilot landed too late. “If he had landed exactly at the 1,000-foot marker, he would have come to a stop on the upsloping portion of the runway, which would have greatly slowed the aircraft.”