NEW DELHI — The sky had turned black. Air India Express Flight 1344 was midair, roaring through a thunderstorm toward the city of Kozhikode’s tabletop runway, which has a sudden drop-off at its end and was known to be potentially dangerous. The pilot, a decorated military flier, circled the airport once, then twice. With visibility so bad, he radioed the control tower to switch runways. “All the flights that land on Runway 10 in tailwind conditions in rain are endangering the lives of all on board,” said a report submitted to India’s civil aviation authorities in 2011.

Source: New York Times August 08, 2020 13:30 UTC