Flight 812: two years of tears

An Air India Express jet crashed on landing at Mangalore on May 22, 2010, killing 158 of 166 on board. The memories of the tragedy are as raw as ever for relatives and survivors still waiting for justice and compensation - but legal wrangling is holding up compensation settlements as reported on gulfnews. Flight 812 was routine, a short trip between Dubai International Airport and Mangalore for all 166 passengers and crew on the Air India Express Boeing 737. The flight was so routine that, after leaving Dubai at 10.35pm, pilot Zlatko Glusica found time to sleep. But when he woke up, the plane was already overshooting its drop point for approaching the airport on a plateau two years ago this morning. From that moment on, the sleepy pilot and his first officer, H.S. Ahluwalia, set in chain a series of events which relatives are struggling to understand. According to the official inquiry, the plane's touchdown was too far down the runway to safely come to a stop. And despite repeated warnings to "go around" from the co-pilot, the foggy-headed Glusica went ahead with the landing, then apparently changed his mind.