This is India - As crazy as it gets - Curt Lewis

Jet Airways pilot made 'blind' landing in Kerala (India)

NEW DELHI: A Jet Airways aircraft made a 'blind' landing in Kerala last August in an unprecedented seventh attempt after running dangerously low on fuel due to the six previous failed landing attempts. The extremely bad weather pushed the pilot to take this decision. The DGCA had conducted an inquiry into this case of August 17, 2015, and the report has brought out some chilling facts.

The Boeing 737 on its way from Doha to Kochi had six failed landing attempts -- a first ever for aviation -- and made it only in the seventh try in Thiruvananthapuram when it was just running out of fuel. This, the DGCA report given to the government says, could have had "disastrous consequences". "Do you know where it (runway) is?" the cockpit voice recorder quotes the first officer as asking the commander, and the reply is: "Just going blindly."

The pilots had no option but to land as the B-737 had very little fuel, 349 kg to be precise the DGCA has found, as there was no fuel left for another landing attempt. When the aircraft was approaching Kochi for landing in the first time, it had 4,844 kg fuel.

Pilot takes last-minute detour in Goa, averts midair collision


NEW DELHI: A midair disaster was averted over the Goan skies on Saturday when two aircraft came dangerously close to each other and the pilots of one of them took a last- minute detour to avoid a possible collision.
The incident happened when SpiceJet's flight SG 3604 took off from Goa for Hyderabad and GoAir's G8 141 Mumbai-Goa flight was descending to land. "Seconds after taking off, the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) alarm went off in the cockpit of the SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 (a turboprop cockpit). The system issued a 'resolution advisory' and the pilots took evasive action as directed." said a SpiceJet official. "The alertness of our crew saved the day," he said.

Both the airlines did not say how many passengers were in aircraft involved in the near miss. GoAir A-320s have 180 to 186 seats and Spicejet Q400s have 78 seats.

Goa airport's radar was down at the time of this incident and a notice to the airmen was issued. SpiceJet officials alleged that the GoAir crew did not follow the procedure to be adopted in such circumstances and that the Go aircraft was in a place where it should not have been. A GoAir spokesman said, " The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is conducting an inquiry in this incident." Goa airport officials also claimed that both the pilots of the GoAir Airbus A320 were expats and there may have been language problems.

"All facts of the case will be studied on Monday. After that we will decide whether the crew should be grounded," a DGCA official said. The Goa airport is a naval base .

Senior airline commanders said the crew of one of the airlines was at fault. "Goa Airport not having a functional radar at that time cannot be the cause of this incident. When the radar is down, aircraft take precautions like extra minimum separation while landing and taking off," said a commander.