Mangalore runway is not too short: Rudy

Mangalore runway is not too short: Rudy

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, May 23: Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the BJP spokesperson, who also holds a pilot’s license, refused to agree with the idea that the Mangalore Airport’s 8,000ft runway is to short. 

Pointing out that Patna Airport has a 6,500ft runway, he said that all varieties of planes including Boeing 737 alight at Patna regularly. Table-top airports, such as the one at Mangalore, can be found all over the world, he said and added that pilots know that planes must touchdown within the touchdown zone on such runways.

Rudy further said that no pilot can afford to overshoot the touchdown zone; and even if the pilot overshoots by mistake, he simply has to answer the call to turn around, which means that he has to go up into the air once again.

Rudy also agrees with many other Boeing pilots that a heavy landing must be avoided even while landing on short runways. He said that, in a bid to make a soft touchdown, Boeing pilots sometimes overshoot the touchdown zone. 

Mr. Rudy also said that he was only discussing possibilities and not making conclusive remarks, adding that only the Black Box can reveal the truth.

The Bharathiya Janatha Party expressed its condolences to the grieving families of the plane crash victims and said that it will make no conclusive comment till the investigations establish the correct cause of the  crash. 

Nithin Gadkari, the president of the party; L. K. Advani, the chairman of the BJP parliamentary party; and Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, the leaders of the opposition in the two houses of parliament expressed  grief and shock over the crash, which claimed 158 precious lives.