Bad weather forces Bangalore flight back to Chennai

Chennai: A surprise awaited passengers of Kingfisher Airlines' Chennai-Bangalore flight on Friday afternoon. They found themselves back in Chennai instead of Bangalore after two hours in the air.
"I had the most surreal experience. We boarded the airplane at 2.45 pm expecting to reach Bangalore soon. Our flight did reach Bangalore but it did not land there and just waited for a while. Finally, when it did proceed and land, we found ourselves back in Chennai around 4.15 pm," said Aashish who is employed with a private concern.
According to a pilot, such diversions have not been unknown in this season in areas like Kochi and Bangalore if the region is experiencing heavy rains, resulting in poor visibility. "Though pilots get a complete weather report of the destination airport before taking off, they fly there in the hope that the weather will clear and they will be able to land. However, if they find they cannot do so, they turn back for safety reasons," the pilot added.
An Air Traffic Controller pointed out that flights were similarly diverted from Mangalore to Kochi recently when pilots found they could not land due to poor visibility caused by heavy rain.
Passengers on Friday's flight to Bangalore claimed there were no announcements on board about the diversion.
30/05/09 Times of India

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Categories: Kingfisher May 2009