Most of Mangalore airport lands at Bajpe - former Pereira holdings, I believe, were acquired from my grandparents - and I still own more land along the hill slope on the Malavur river side where the aircraft reportedly came down (not on my land) after over-shooting the runway.
My deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the victims and all those who lost their loved ones in this terrible tragedy.
Though Bajpe - often called a table-top airport - perches atop the range of hills that rise from the coast abutting the Arabian sea, and is considered one of the toughest airports to take off from or to land on, never in the history of this airport has there been a crash or loss of life ever!
There has been one earlier precedent however, in so far as over-shooting the runway is concerned. In the days when the runway was single and short, an Indian Airlines plane after landing did overshoot the length of the runway perhaps some time in the 1960-70s, but was miraculously stopped at the cliff-end before falling into the valley below. Local legend has it that Veerappa Moily, current Law Minister in the Manmohan Singh cabinet, as a youngster was a passenger on this plane then. The aircraft shell then remained perched precariously, tilted towards the valley below balanced at the cliff-end, for maybe over three decades, till the runway extension programme was undertaken less than two decades ago.
Maxie
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