At least 5 Indian airports have tabletop runways

New Delhi, Aug. 8: Constructed on elevated terrains and mostly having little space for last minute maneuver, tabletop runways at times pose challenges for pilots while landing their aircraft.

And Air India Express planes have crashed at least twice on such runways in little over a decade. At least five airports, including at Kozhikode where an Air India Express aircraft crashed on Friday, have tabletop runways. Tabletop runways are constructed on hilly or elevated terrains.

Also, there could be low lying areas adjacent to such runways and there could be gorges at the end of such runways.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman Arvind Singh told PTI that tabletop runways are there at four airports operated by it. They are at Kozhikode, Mangalore (Karnakata), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) and Pakyong (Sikkim).

The Lengpui airport in Mizoram, which is with the state government, also has a tabletop runway.

State-owned AAI operates 137 aerodromes, including the ones through joint ventures.

A senior Air India pilot said that automation might not help in the case of tabletop runways. There is also the issue of optical illusion, where the runway might seem to be nearer whereas it would actually be further away, he added. The pilot also stressed that there is not much buffer zone unlike normal runways.

There are tabletop runways in different parts of the world and only when the runway length is less, there could be issues with landing of aircraft.

In the Court of Inquiry report about the plane crash at Mangalore airport in May 2010, it was mentioned that there were three tabletop airports in the country from where scheduled flights operate at Mangalore, Kozhikode and Lengpui.

"Because of the undulating terrain and constraints of space, these airfields require extra skill and caution while carrying out flight operations. "The hazard of undershooting and overshooting, in particular, can lead to grave situations, as was the case in this accident," the report had said.

It had also said that tabletop runways have a problem of access roads around the airfield, which may need to be used in case of aircraft accidents.

◗ TABLETOP RUNWAYS are constructed on hilly or elevated terrains. Also, there could be low lying areas adjacent to such runways and there could be gorges at the end of such runways.