At IGI, Air Force One pilots keep it simple & safe

New Delhi: The pilots of Air Force One chose the most comfortable option for Barack and Michelle Obama and their entourage to touch down in the capital after an exactly 1.46-hour flight from Mumbai. The Boeing 747-200 was given the option of landing on any of the three runways at IGI Airport and midway from Ahmedabad to Delhi, the pilots informed Delhi ATC that the 'big eagle' would land on the main runway 28.
Reason: This 3.8-km-long and recently-resurfaced runway is closer to the Palam Technical Area than the newest airstrip 29, from where taxiing could have taken over 20 minutes.
From the runway 28, the pilots were again given three options to exit the runway enroute to the technical area where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife were waiting to receive the US first couple. When the plane touched down in Delhi at 3.19pm, it used the entire 3.8-km runway to slow down and opted for Taxiway Kilo, the last on the airstrip, to turn right. This allowed the pilot to avoid any harsh braking, slow down gently and give maximum comfort to the VVIP passengers.
The aircraft reached Palam technical area about seven minutes after touchdown. In another five minutes, the ladder was attached to the aircraft after which the Obamas emerged.
While officials maintained that air space closure for the VVIP movement was for not more than six minutes and did not affect the commercial schedule, the last flight to operate before Air Force One landed was the arrival of Indigo's flight 6E 302 from Chennai at 3.03pm. The first movement after the presidential flight landed was the arrival of Air India's IC7808 from Jabalpur at 3.25pm.
08/11/10 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Nov 2010, Foreign Nov 2010