Passenger aircraft manoeuvring in an airport on its tyres on the tarmac is a familiar sight; but how does one react to the rare sight of a stipulated 50-minute domestic passenger aircraft in the Indian sky, with all its tyres (or undercarriage) hanging in the air, un-retracted, flying low and slow from a state commercial hub to the capital of a country of 1.27 billion people? Ironic? Comical? A joke? Absurd? Yes, theoretically. But wait for the actual 'hanging tyre in the air' happening and visualize a most non-aviation like scenario.
A brand new twin-engine Boeing-787-800 Dreamliner takes off from Amritsar for Delhi in fair weather, daylight conditions, with little possibility of turbulence owing to the 'settled monsoon', with good visibility towards the horizon. In less than 40 seconds, the craft is airborne from the 3658-metre paved runway of Guru Ram Dass airport, Amritsar, and the pilot now presses the button to retract the undercarriage within 30 seconds of the lift. However, the undercarriage refuses to retract as the craft tries to continue gaining height, albeit slowly, to fly through its designated 'flight level', which normally is between 25000 and 30000 feet, in a short haul flight of one hour. It takes 15 minutes to climb, 15 minutes to descend and the rest 16-18 minutes for the 'cruising level'. All this owing to the fact that it is a short haul operation. Things could be totally different for long distance flight, however.
17/10/15 Abhijit Bhattacharyya/The Telegraph
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A brand new twin-engine Boeing-787-800 Dreamliner takes off from Amritsar for Delhi in fair weather, daylight conditions, with little possibility of turbulence owing to the 'settled monsoon', with good visibility towards the horizon. In less than 40 seconds, the craft is airborne from the 3658-metre paved runway of Guru Ram Dass airport, Amritsar, and the pilot now presses the button to retract the undercarriage within 30 seconds of the lift. However, the undercarriage refuses to retract as the craft tries to continue gaining height, albeit slowly, to fly through its designated 'flight level', which normally is between 25000 and 30000 feet, in a short haul flight of one hour. It takes 15 minutes to climb, 15 minutes to descend and the rest 16-18 minutes for the 'cruising level'. All this owing to the fact that it is a short haul operation. Things could be totally different for long distance flight, however.
17/10/15 Abhijit Bhattacharyya/The Telegraph
