Mumbai: It is not usual that an aircraft flies towards an airport, levels off at 600 feet, then descends by 200 feet, only to climb back up again. But that is precisely what happened a few months ago at Mumbai airport as a senior Jet Airways pilot botched up a landing. Because of his mistake, he put at grave risk not just his aircraft and passengers but also a passenger plane in an advanced stage of takeoff. But that too was half the story.
The pilot of the yo-yoing aircraft was not supposed to be at its helm at all, said a source. A Jet Airways examiner on Boeing 737 aircraft, he was rostered to travel as a passenger on the Delhi-Mumbai flight, JAI 362. "But he seems to have misused his powers as an examiner to make the co-pilot vacate his seat, which he then occupied. Next, he took controls of the aircraft from the commander," said a highly-placed source.
The real crisis began minutes before the aircraft's landing in Mumbai. The examiner made a series of mistakes, which were compounded by an ambitious air traffic controller who had spaced takeoffs and landings very close. The result was grave peril to the flight from Delhi as well as to a Jet Airways flight (JAI 524 to Riyadh) on the ground.
11/07/13 Manju V/Times of India
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The pilot of the yo-yoing aircraft was not supposed to be at its helm at all, said a source. A Jet Airways examiner on Boeing 737 aircraft, he was rostered to travel as a passenger on the Delhi-Mumbai flight, JAI 362. "But he seems to have misused his powers as an examiner to make the co-pilot vacate his seat, which he then occupied. Next, he took controls of the aircraft from the commander," said a highly-placed source.
The real crisis began minutes before the aircraft's landing in Mumbai. The examiner made a series of mistakes, which were compounded by an ambitious air traffic controller who had spaced takeoffs and landings very close. The result was grave peril to the flight from Delhi as well as to a Jet Airways flight (JAI 524 to Riyadh) on the ground.
11/07/13 Manju V/Times of India
