Mangaluru: Sixteen years after the tragic crash of Air India Express Flight IX 812 at Mangaluru International Airport, the memories of that ill-fated morning continue to haunt retired meteorological official RJ Vaz.
Only eight persons survived the accident, which claimed the lives of 158 individuals, including the two pilots and the four-member cabin crew. The flight was arriving from Dubai.
Vaz, who served as the officer-in-charge of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at the airport on May 22, 2010, visited the air crash memorial park at Kuloor in Mangaluru on Friday to pay tribute to the victims on the 16th anniversary of the tragedy.
Standing silently before the memorial, Vaz recalled that he had been on duty that morning because another staff member was on leave. "We send weather updates to the air traffic controller (ATC) every half an hour, who in turn sends it to flights," he said.
"On the ill-fated day, based on observation, I wrote and sent the report at 6 am. For flight landing, 2-3 parameters are important. Most important is visibility, which was around 6 km that day. The cloud base was at 1,500 ft with scattered clouds at 2,000 feet. The other weather parameters seemed normal," he said, revisiting the details that remain etched in his mind.
That same year, he was awarded the best weatherman award from IMD, Delhi. Vaz said he had never imagined that such a devastating accident would unfold at 6.03 am. "I never thought I would witness such a crash in my lifetime. Even after retirement, the memories remain fresh," Vaz said.
The retired officer served the IMD for 31 years, spending most of his career at the Mangaluru airport weather office.
