New Delhi:
After the Mangalore crash last month in which nearly 160 people were killed on an Air India plane from Dubai, the government has issued a new set of guidelines for all airlines.
A circular from the Civil Aviation Ministry lists the correct landing procedures, as well as the protocol to be followed by pilots and crew in the cockpit. (Read all guidelines here)
In the Mangalore crash, India's worst aviation disaster in more than a decade, the pilot overshot the hilltop runway by 2000 feet and the plane crashed into the valley and burst into flames.
The notice stresses that "a large percentage of incidents and accidents occur during the approach and landing or take-off phase of flight. This is also the phase where there is transition from automated flight to manual flight, instrument to visual reference, and vice versa. It is critical that Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are followed meticulously in these phases of flight...a good landing is not one that the passengers perceive as a soft landing, but one that is made at the correct point on the runway with the correct flight parameters."
This point is significant since Air India is thought to have issued a circular to its pilots well before the Mangalore tragedy, asking for soft landings to conserve fuel and protect the air frame of the aircraft. The danger of a soft landing is that an aircraft potentially uses up more of the runway to come to a complete halt.
A few days after the Mangalore crash, another Air India flight came dangerously close to disaster. NDTV has details of why.
A plane from Dubai to Pune plunged several thousand feet while it was southeast of Oman over the Arabian Sea. The pilot went to the bathroom and sensed the aircraft was losing height. He tried to return to the cockpit. The button he pressed on the keypad for the bulletproof door activated a chime inside the cockpit. At this point, the co-pilot should have pressed to a button to allow the door to open. There was, however, no response from the cockpit. Worried, the pilot then punched an emergency code into the keypad -he had memorized this, fortunately, as required by the manufacturer. The door took 35 seconds to unlock. The pilot entered the cockpit to find the jet was poised with its nose down, at 23 degrees, at an air speed of .86 Mach. The over speed warning sounded, indicating that the jet was on the verge of structural failure. Unable to sit down, the pilot gradually pulled back on the controls. Jerky movements at this point could have shattered the airframe.
In 30 seconds, the jet had plunged from 37,000 feet to 30,200 feet. It could have crashed within seconds if the pilot had not shown remarkable presence of mind.
In an apparent reference to that incident, the new guidelines state that "In case one of the crew members has to leave the cockpit during the non critical phases of flight, the cabin crew is required to be inside the cockpit and occupy the observer seat...the pilot remaining in the cockpit shall wear shoulders harness, and headset and maintain high level of alertness, and situational awareness. He should have an unobstructed access to the flight controls."
A circular from the Civil Aviation Ministry lists the correct landing procedures, as well as the protocol to be followed by pilots and crew in the cockpit. (Read all guidelines here)
In the Mangalore crash, India's worst aviation disaster in more than a decade, the pilot overshot the hilltop runway by 2000 feet and the plane crashed into the valley and burst into flames.
The notice stresses that "a large percentage of incidents and accidents occur during the approach and landing or take-off phase of flight. This is also the phase where there is transition from automated flight to manual flight, instrument to visual reference, and vice versa. It is critical that Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are followed meticulously in these phases of flight...a good landing is not one that the passengers perceive as a soft landing, but one that is made at the correct point on the runway with the correct flight parameters."
This point is significant since Air India is thought to have issued a circular to its pilots well before the Mangalore tragedy, asking for soft landings to conserve fuel and protect the air frame of the aircraft. The danger of a soft landing is that an aircraft potentially uses up more of the runway to come to a complete halt.
A few days after the Mangalore crash, another Air India flight came dangerously close to disaster. NDTV has details of why.
A plane from Dubai to Pune plunged several thousand feet while it was southeast of Oman over the Arabian Sea. The pilot went to the bathroom and sensed the aircraft was losing height. He tried to return to the cockpit. The button he pressed on the keypad for the bulletproof door activated a chime inside the cockpit. At this point, the co-pilot should have pressed to a button to allow the door to open. There was, however, no response from the cockpit. Worried, the pilot then punched an emergency code into the keypad -he had memorized this, fortunately, as required by the manufacturer. The door took 35 seconds to unlock. The pilot entered the cockpit to find the jet was poised with its nose down, at 23 degrees, at an air speed of .86 Mach. The over speed warning sounded, indicating that the jet was on the verge of structural failure. Unable to sit down, the pilot gradually pulled back on the controls. Jerky movements at this point could have shattered the airframe.
In 30 seconds, the jet had plunged from 37,000 feet to 30,200 feet. It could have crashed within seconds if the pilot had not shown remarkable presence of mind.
In an apparent reference to that incident, the new guidelines state that "In case one of the crew members has to leave the cockpit during the non critical phases of flight, the cabin crew is required to be inside the cockpit and occupy the observer seat...the pilot remaining in the cockpit shall wear shoulders harness, and headset and maintain high level of alertness, and situational awareness. He should have an unobstructed access to the flight controls."
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