How do they allow the airport to be used when it was only approved for the A320 in the 90s which is smaller plane and needs less space to land.

Also the run of area is way to little and some amount of netting would have averted the quantum of damage or size of the tragedy.

Let the souls of the victims rest in peace and god give strength to their near & dear ones to over come their loss.

@ ujjwal, this plane if not old and is part of the newer planes and it may be only about 4-5 yrs old
 

"My codolences to the people who lost Family and Friends on that flight"

same here...

Could an arrestor net at the end of runway prevented this tragedy?

you can guess the momentum of the plane, even its at a speed of .5 kmph..
i think no..yes, smthing like that can be made from carbon nanotubes in near future, but again you can guess what will happen to the plane..

two major accidents in just a span of few months..
its sad..   

I think the arrrestor net will take some time because it will have to incorporate an arrestor hook like we see on the FA18hornet flown by the US navy and other countries.Instead,we can  have a patch of runway at the far end which as been made using aerated concrete.The weight of the plane will stop it.This is done in other international airports.If aerated concrete is expensive,they can use a sand trap.Even that should help.The weight of the aircraft should stop it.

Latest news is pilot tried at last moment for TO/GA(Takeoff/Go around) and even some times experienced pilots do the mistakes and one thing i can say is B737 series is a back bone of commercial aviation for every minute in the world  somewhere one B737 will take off.
and another thing is b737 has very less ground clearence around 8"-12" from ground to intake of the engine!!!!! Even if aircraft banks 1ft or one tire burns out what happens think yourself!!!

We cannot blame Crews,Aircraft,Runway,anything until FDR/CVR data is retrieved .

And plane is very new about 2 1/2 year old and one of my friend was working on that!

Read the details in the newspaper today. There are two runways at Mangalore airport, old one(5000ft) and new one about 8000ft(cant remember the exact lengths), this ill fated AI aircraft landed on the new runway which although not very long was sufficient for a 737-800. The aircraft touched down at about 3000ft from the threshold point which is about half the runway length, the ideal touch down point is about 1000 ft(again i cant remember the exact values). Secondly, since this airport is on a plateau there were no buffer zones at the end of the runway.

As Rohit has said, that was the old, shorter, runway. I had a long chat with an aeromodeling buddy, who is also a pilot. He says the present runway is long enough for a touchdown 2,000 feet from  the threshold. Most likely he has come in too fast. He gave me a fascinating insight on alternate scenarios. Can post details if of interest. A bit technical, though.

ok guys here is the details of crashed plane
http://www.dgca.gov.in/caris/know_ind.htm
type AXV after VT-
@sushil im intrested

please send me the details as mentioned.

Even i would like to know the details of the alternate scenario.

GUys,
it was a ILS assisted flight so the plane overshooting is surely a technuical fault either in the plane or the runway..

No its was purely VFR flight if u want to use ILS than visibility should be less than 700mtrs but there was a visibility of 6kms and one thing i can make sure ground equipment can never go fault either it will be fully unserviceble or serviceble!
 
i think it was purely due to pilot error or misjudge!

Some reports state the flight was on ILS! further:
"Even on Sunday — the day after the crash — a NOTAM (notice to airmen) was issued that read as follows: “ILS was operational but awaiting flight calibration. Pilots to exercise caution while using ILS.”

"Explaining the incident further, Kanu Gohain, the former director general of civil aviation, said that the pilot communicated that he was in line with the runway and that he was on the Glide Scope."

And even if on-ground visibility was 6kms, verticzal visibility can be way different!!
I dont say it cant be pilot error. AI has an order for smooth landing for full load aircraft, in which case it will touch down further. But any experienced Pilot will not commit that mistake on a short runway! and Mangalore is classified as "critical" (sorry i dont recall the exact word here) Like Leh, Srinagar, Cochin.

There are some Pilots in this forum, they can provide us some insight!!

If i remember correctly same incident took place in 2005 with Air france 358 where i agree purely because of bad wether but still there was a pilot error ,where in that case while approach speedbrakes was not armed and auto brakes not engaged and even after landing speed brakes was not deployed and after touch down they took 8 secs to engage thrust reverser ! in jet planes travelling at speed of hundreds of kilometer 8 secs is more than enough to comit suscide! >
once i was flying with my friend who was pilot (C182)! while landing i was about hit the wall and suddenly applied the brakes for our luck it stopped otherwise i was history!and my friend said i will never give u control again u be a AME and ill be Pilot! funny fellow

Finally, the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) was just recovered.  The mystery shall be fully revealed soon, we hope.

This is one of the scenarios my pilot friend spoke about. The interesting part was the information that The speed brakes will deploy ONLY after the aircraft has "settled" on the undercarriage, i.e. the oleos are depressed. If he has come in fast and bounced, these would not function.

As for mpp's post re: glide slope, even if the ILS was not fully calibrated, an experienced pilot would - or should - have been able to realise that he was way over the threshold. The pilot I spoke to has landed at Mangalore, several times and considers the length to be adequate for a touch down 2,000 feet beyond the threshold.