Air India flight pilots forget to retract landing gear, run short of fuel, forced to land in Nagpur
Air India Flight 676, bound from Kolkata to Mumbai, was forced to land at Nagpur on Saturday, July 22 due to its fuel running low.
Air India Flight 676, bound from Kolkata to Mumbai, was forced to land at Nagpur on Saturday, July 22 due to its fuel running low. As reported by Times of India, Air India has grounded the two pilots who did not pull back the landing gear of the aircraft after the take off from Kolkata all the way till Nagpur. The flight was headed to Mumbai but had to halt at Nagpur. The pilots realised that they had been flying the aircraft with the wheels out only when they prepared to land at Nagpur, TOI reported.
Flying an aircraft with the wheels out means flying low and also results in more utilisation of fuel. The aircraft AI 676 had 99 passengers on board on Saturday. TOI reported quoting a source, “After take off, both the pilots forgot to retract the landing gear. As a result, the brand new Airbus A-320 continued to ascend at a very low climb rate. The plane finally gave up climbing after reaching an altitude of 24,000 feet as the extended landing gear meant very heavy drag. It then levelled out and flew at 230 knots for the next 1.5 hours.”
Since the aircraft was flying at a very low range compared to the optimal level in the sky that an aircraft is supposed to fly within, it resulted in the immense burning of the fuel due to the extra dragging. By the time the Airbus A-320 reached Nagpur, it went low on fuel and both the pilots decided to divert the plane to the Nagpur airport as it would not have been possible to reach Mumbai in that much fuel, reported Times of India.
TOI quoted the AI spokesperson, Dhananjay Kumar, who said, “The pilots were de-rostered after the incident was reported.” He said that the airline is probing further into the case. According to TOI, the two pilots are equally surprised that none of the cabin crew members or the passengers complained about the noise and vibrations made by the aircraft due to flying at such a low altitude.
Seats for 144, passengers fume as Air India books 194
KOLKATA: An unexplained glitch in Air India's reservation system that triggered angry protests among passengers in Kolkata this weekend has the airline's commercial team on tenterhooks.
On Saturday, 194 passengers reported for Air India flight AI 731 from Kolkata to Guwahati when the Airbus A 319 aircraft had only 144 seats. Some airlines do resort to overbookings but never at this scale. While the 50 stranded passengers fumed and fretted, AI officials were flummoxed how it had happened.
"It was an unprecedented situation. We do have 2-3% overbookings but on Saturday, it was 31% on the Kolkata-Guwahati flight. The passengers were justifiably furious and we didn't have any explanation to offer. An error seems to have occurred in the reservation system. Instead of displaying that the flight was full once 144 tickets had been sold, it continued to accept reservations. Thus, 194 passengers turned up for the flight," an AI official said.
AI would have had to use an Airbus A 330 aircraft or a Boeing 787 Dreamliner to carry so many passengers on a single trip. But none of the aircraft could be re-deployed to Kolkata at such short notice.
Earlier, airlines would overbook flights by 10% as no-shows or passengers failing to turn up for the flight was high. But with low-fare, non-refundable tickets being introduced, no-shows have gone down significantly. This has forced airlines to recalibrate their booking software and cap the overbooking limit at 2-3%.
Though the airline did manage to pacify the stranded passengers, accommodate them in a hotel, and then fly them in two flights: one scheduled to Guwahati on Sunday morning and the other to Bagdogra that was rescheduled to fly via Guwahati, its officials are worried about the potential damage it may cause to the airline's image if the snag recurs.
"The prospect of an error like this creeping into an international flight is frightening. The airline can get sued by passengers. We are trying to identify the cause and rectify it at the earliest. Officials at the headquarters in Delhi have already been alerted and they are investigating the case," said another official of the national carrier.
Earlier in May, Kanishk Sajnani, a white hat hacker, hacked into AI's ticketing system and exploited it to book tickets at over 95% discount. AI officials were prompt to acknowledge the matter and resolved it. Now, the airline is confronted with a new bug.
Air India Flight 676, bound from Kolkata to Mumbai, was forced to land at Nagpur on Saturday, July 22 due to its fuel running low.
Air India Flight 676, bound from Kolkata to Mumbai, was forced to land at Nagpur on Saturday, July 22 due to its fuel running low. As reported by Times of India, Air India has grounded the two pilots who did not pull back the landing gear of the aircraft after the take off from Kolkata all the way till Nagpur. The flight was headed to Mumbai but had to halt at Nagpur. The pilots realised that they had been flying the aircraft with the wheels out only when they prepared to land at Nagpur, TOI reported.
Flying an aircraft with the wheels out means flying low and also results in more utilisation of fuel. The aircraft AI 676 had 99 passengers on board on Saturday. TOI reported quoting a source, “After take off, both the pilots forgot to retract the landing gear. As a result, the brand new Airbus A-320 continued to ascend at a very low climb rate. The plane finally gave up climbing after reaching an altitude of 24,000 feet as the extended landing gear meant very heavy drag. It then levelled out and flew at 230 knots for the next 1.5 hours.”
Since the aircraft was flying at a very low range compared to the optimal level in the sky that an aircraft is supposed to fly within, it resulted in the immense burning of the fuel due to the extra dragging. By the time the Airbus A-320 reached Nagpur, it went low on fuel and both the pilots decided to divert the plane to the Nagpur airport as it would not have been possible to reach Mumbai in that much fuel, reported Times of India.
TOI quoted the AI spokesperson, Dhananjay Kumar, who said, “The pilots were de-rostered after the incident was reported.” He said that the airline is probing further into the case. According to TOI, the two pilots are equally surprised that none of the cabin crew members or the passengers complained about the noise and vibrations made by the aircraft due to flying at such a low altitude.
Seats for 144, passengers fume as Air India books 194
KOLKATA: An unexplained glitch in Air India's reservation system that triggered angry protests among passengers in Kolkata this weekend has the airline's commercial team on tenterhooks.
On Saturday, 194 passengers reported for Air India flight AI 731 from Kolkata to Guwahati when the Airbus A 319 aircraft had only 144 seats. Some airlines do resort to overbookings but never at this scale. While the 50 stranded passengers fumed and fretted, AI officials were flummoxed how it had happened.
"It was an unprecedented situation. We do have 2-3% overbookings but on Saturday, it was 31% on the Kolkata-Guwahati flight. The passengers were justifiably furious and we didn't have any explanation to offer. An error seems to have occurred in the reservation system. Instead of displaying that the flight was full once 144 tickets had been sold, it continued to accept reservations. Thus, 194 passengers turned up for the flight," an AI official said.
AI would have had to use an Airbus A 330 aircraft or a Boeing 787 Dreamliner to carry so many passengers on a single trip. But none of the aircraft could be re-deployed to Kolkata at such short notice.
Earlier, airlines would overbook flights by 10% as no-shows or passengers failing to turn up for the flight was high. But with low-fare, non-refundable tickets being introduced, no-shows have gone down significantly. This has forced airlines to recalibrate their booking software and cap the overbooking limit at 2-3%.
Though the airline did manage to pacify the stranded passengers, accommodate them in a hotel, and then fly them in two flights: one scheduled to Guwahati on Sunday morning and the other to Bagdogra that was rescheduled to fly via Guwahati, its officials are worried about the potential damage it may cause to the airline's image if the snag recurs.
"The prospect of an error like this creeping into an international flight is frightening. The airline can get sued by passengers. We are trying to identify the cause and rectify it at the earliest. Officials at the headquarters in Delhi have already been alerted and they are investigating the case," said another official of the national carrier.
Earlier in May, Kanishk Sajnani, a white hat hacker, hacked into AI's ticketing system and exploited it to book tickets at over 95% discount. AI officials were prompt to acknowledge the matter and resolved it. Now, the airline is confronted with a new bug.
