Mangalore Airport Runway was the ideal setting for the 'Indian Jones' movie - not for a passenger facility

Dear Friends
I submitted an RTI application to the DGCA, a week ago, on 24-May. Just learnt that it is making all people uncomfortable there. The RTI application and the explanation thereto are attached. The RTI application, of course, expands the frontiers of the RTI law. The RTI application was made by me for the benefit of certain lawyers and NGOs at Bangalore. Also reproduced here:

Date: 24-May-2010
To
Sri Bhir Singh Rai (or any other officer dealing with - all matters pertaining to investigation of accidents/incidents to Indian registered and foreign registered aircraft occurring in India, to provide assistance to Courts/Committees of Inquiry and all the other matters relating to Air Safety.)
Director
Central - Assistant Public Information Officer
Director General of Civil Aviation Headquarters
Opposite Safdarjung Airport,
New Delhi 110 003

From:

K.V.DHANANJAY
Advocate
No.43, Ajantha Apartments
(No 36), I.P. Extension
Near AVB Public School
New Delhi 110 092
Mobile: 09902909390
dhananjaylegal@gmail.com

Dear Sir

Sub: Information sought under Sections 5 and 6 of the Central Right to Information Act, 2005

I am an advocate in practice across several High Courts and the Supreme Court of India.

In relation to the disastrous Air India Express Flight IX-812 [BOEING 737-800 Aircraft that departed from Dubai International Airport (IATA-DXB) to arrive at Mangalore International Airport, Mangalore, Karnataka (IATA-IXE)] that crash-landed on the Runway at the Mangalore International Airport at Bajpe, Mangalore, Karnataka around 06-30 Hrs [Indian Standard Time (IST)] on Saturday, 22-May-2010, the following information is sought:

I. Complete and unedited audio recording (on an appropriate media), of all human communication and interaction, captured by the cockpit voice recorder or any similar device pre-installed inside the aforesaid aircraft [including the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR)] and retrieved thereafter from the aforesaid aircraft;

II. Complete and unedited audio recording (on an appropriate media) of all communication that occurred inside the Air Traffic Control Room in relation to the landing of the aforesaid aircraft on the Runway at the Mangalore International Airport at Bajpe, Mangalore, Karnataka.

III. Copies of all instruction or directions, if any, (published on or after 01-Jan-2006) issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation under Section 5A of 'The Aircraft Act, 1934' (Act No.XXII) in respect of additional precaution mandated for flights that take off or descend upon the Runway at the Mangalore International Airport (formerly, Bajpe Airport) Bajpe, Mangalore, Karnataka.

A Demand Draft for a sum of Rs.500 drawn on ING Vysya Bank, Karnataka High Court Branch, Bangalore, bearing the Number 320214 and dated 24-May-2010 is attached herewith.

I further assert that the information sought herein is not exempted from disclosure in terms of Section 8 or 9 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 and your office is under a positive legal duty to furnish information sought herein.

I undertake to pay the balance costs upon due intimation, immediately thereafter.

I would prefer to receive information by Post at the address above mentioned.

SINCERELY

(K.V.DHANANJAY)

Advocate

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The explanation for the RTI (not provided to the DGCA) is:

The RTI application has been made by me.

The Mangalore International Airport is thoroughly defective in design and this airport should never have been approved for use as a passenger airport. A series of PILs were instituted by other lawyers at the Karnataka High Court and the nature of mishap that took place on Saturday was foretold in those petitions. As such, the statutory authorities that were responsible for the design and operation of this airport were clearly forewarned and could therefore become criminally liable for the disaster that struck the airport on Saturday morning.

The purpose of the RTI is to establish, primarily, if the pilots in charge of the fateful aircraft did say anything to suggest that they 'dreaded' the Runway at the Mangalore airport. Because the DGCA has already maintained, publicly, that the pilots in question were highly competent, any evidence of those pilots expressing 'fear' of landing at the Mangalore Airport Runway could clearly establish that the design of the airport was inherently defective and that such defective design could not have been overcome or mitigated by subsequent and special training.

The other provision -Section 5A of the Aircraft Act, 1934 grants wide powers to the DGCA to issue any instruction as may be deemed necessary by the DGCA to ensure 'safety of aircraft operations'. Any person who fails to comply with such direction could become liable to pay a penalty of a sum of Rs.10 Lakhs and suffer imprisonment for a term upto 2 years. We are keen to note the extent of precaution and care exercised by the DGCA in relation to the operation of the Table-Top Runway at the Mangalore International Airport. Whether the DGCA took special steps to mitigate the possibility of a disaster at this airport can be ascertained with reference to the directions that were issued by it in relation to this airport, under Section 5A of the Aircraft Act, 1934.

Further, the reason why I state that the design of the Runway was inherently dangerous is because, any aircraft that commits an error and makes a less-than-perfect landing was imposed with a foreseeable risk of dropping off the cliff, unless the aircraft came under immediate control of the pilot. Such a design should never have been approved for a passenger airport in the first place.

Notwithstanding the DGCA or its loyalists' claim that the Mangalore International Airport was the safest airport in India, Saturday's incident puts the burden on the DGCA to prove that the airport was not defective in design.

Regards,

K.V. Dhananjay.
Advocate, Supreme Court of India
+91-99029-09390