One in every four air crashes was during landing

One in every four air crashes across the globe can be attributed to error during landing, similar to Saturday's Air India crash in Mangalore in which 158 people were killed.

An analysis by commercial aircraft maker Boeing shows that around 24 percent of the total 364 plane accidents between 1998 and 2007 were caused by technical or human error while landing.

Of the 364 accidents, more than 85 occurred while landing, the analysis said. Eleven percent of the total 5,147 fatalities were attributed to accidents due to problems in landing.

The majority of accidents (57 percent) occurred while the aircraft were cruising, according to the report titled 'Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents, 1959-2008'.

About 12 percent of accidents took place during takeoff, while 8 percent during the plane's initial climb and 12 percent between the period of climb and cruise, accounting for 43 per cent of the total fatalities, said the report.

While descending, there were only 5 percent of mishaps whereas 10 per cent of accidents occurred during the flight's initial approach and 9 percent during the final approach before landing.

Such accidents resulted in about 27 percent of total fatalities during the said 10 years.

The report also stated that about 12 percent of accidents took place during taxing and towing of planes at airports.

As far as fatalities are concerned, 1,985 deaths resulted in accidents caused by loss of control in flights.

Over 1,100 were killed in accidents classified under controlled flight into terrain, in which a pilot inadvertently flies an aircraft into terrain without knowing about the obstacle.

The third biggest reason behind fatal accidents was the failure or malfunction of an aircraft system or component -- other than the powerplant. Accidents under this category have killed 655 people in the reported period.

Accidents occurred due to "runway excursion" -- a veer off or overrun off the runway surface -- remained the fourth biggest killer, claiming the lives of about 449 people. Such accidents also resulted in nearly 90 external fatalities, according to the report.

Today's mishap can be classified under the "runway excursion" category.