SANJAY MANDAL
Urmila Yadav in Guwahati on Sunday. (PTI)
Calcutta, June 11:
Oh s***! So swore Urmila Yadav.
When you have just been radioed “something had dropped off” your airborne plane, you can’t check whether the cockpit carries the latest edition of Polite Words, can you?
Urmila, who was flying the Guwahati-bound ATR-42, was told by the Silchar ATC that it was probably a wheel. “For a split second, she was at a loss. But she is the type who knows how to regain composure without a fuss,” a source close to Urmila said today.
She asked the ATC to rush an official to the runway and confirm whether it was a wheel. A wheel was indeed found on the edge of the runway.
The next moment, Urmila, who does yoga every morning and jogs — “not on the treadmill” — for an hour, had her nose in place.
“She told herself staying calm was the need of the moment,” said the source. Several passengers had yesterday lauded the composure and presence of mind shown by the crew after all the 50 people on board the Air India flight landed safely in Guwahati.
Urmila had to make a landing but one decision had to be taken before anything else: where? The pilot, with 4,500 flying hours to her credit, picked Guwahati.
For two factors, said the source. “First, it was drizzling in Silchar while the weather in Guwahati was fine. Second, the back-up required for an emergency landing — fire services and medical equipment — are better in Guwahati compared to Silchar in Barak Valley.”
What does it take to land when one of the nose wheels is missing? “It takes skill to land on the rear wheels keeping the nose wheel up. Intelligent use of power while landing ensures that an aircraft lands smoothly without jerks in such conditions,” explained a pilot. An aviation trainer had clarified yesterday that there wasn’t much risk, provided the standard procedure for such situations was followed.
Urmila’s main concern was to ensure there was no panic among the passengers. “There were frantic conversations inside the cockpit — between the ATC and the pilots and between the pilots and the cabin crew — but none of the underlying tension could be allowed to creep into the cabin,” said the source familiar with the happenings between 8.55am and 10.31am on Sunday.
The response during such an emergency is drilled in at training sessions but, as another pilot said, only personnel who have experienced mid-air situations know the gulf between the virtual and the real.
The engine and other systems in the aircraft were working properly. What was required was good piloting. “At every moment, Urmila said, she was reminded of her training manual,” the source said.
Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh called Urmila and congratulated her today. She was kind of overwhelmed after taking calls through the day. “I did what was expected of me,” the source quoted her as saying.
Urmila, in her mid-forties, was in Calcutta from 2006 to 2008, after she joined Alliance Air — the wholly owned Air India subsidiary — as a junior pilot. The lady from Gurgaon had spent two years in an apartment off Haldiram’s on VIP Road and loved Park Street. Yes, she takes rosogollas home and she does devour fish curry.
She learnt to fly at the Karnal Aviation Club and worked as an instructor with several flying clubs before joining a private firm, from where she moved on to Alliance.
“She left Calcutta because she wanted to relocate closer to Gurgaon and joined the Airports Authority of India in 2008,” the source said.
However, she returned to Alliance in 2010 with a Delhi posting. Earlier this year, Urmila became a commander from a co-pilot.
In 2008, when Urmila landed an ATR in Kanpur, a Nilgai had come in the way. She pressed the brakes. “The antelope couldn’t be saved but the passengers were unscathed,” the source said.
Correction: The Telegraph had reported on Monday that the plane had an all-woman crew. The crew included a man, co-pilot Yeshu Bareja. We apologize for the mistake.
http://www.telegraphindia.com
Urmila, who was flying the Guwahati-bound ATR-42, was told by the Silchar ATC that it was probably a wheel. “For a split second, she was at a loss. But she is the type who knows how to regain composure without a fuss,” a source close to Urmila said today.
She asked the ATC to rush an official to the runway and confirm whether it was a wheel. A wheel was indeed found on the edge of the runway.
The next moment, Urmila, who does yoga every morning and jogs — “not on the treadmill” — for an hour, had her nose in place.
“She told herself staying calm was the need of the moment,” said the source. Several passengers had yesterday lauded the composure and presence of mind shown by the crew after all the 50 people on board the Air India flight landed safely in Guwahati.
Urmila had to make a landing but one decision had to be taken before anything else: where? The pilot, with 4,500 flying hours to her credit, picked Guwahati.
For two factors, said the source. “First, it was drizzling in Silchar while the weather in Guwahati was fine. Second, the back-up required for an emergency landing — fire services and medical equipment — are better in Guwahati compared to Silchar in Barak Valley.”
What does it take to land when one of the nose wheels is missing? “It takes skill to land on the rear wheels keeping the nose wheel up. Intelligent use of power while landing ensures that an aircraft lands smoothly without jerks in such conditions,” explained a pilot. An aviation trainer had clarified yesterday that there wasn’t much risk, provided the standard procedure for such situations was followed.
Urmila’s main concern was to ensure there was no panic among the passengers. “There were frantic conversations inside the cockpit — between the ATC and the pilots and between the pilots and the cabin crew — but none of the underlying tension could be allowed to creep into the cabin,” said the source familiar with the happenings between 8.55am and 10.31am on Sunday.
The response during such an emergency is drilled in at training sessions but, as another pilot said, only personnel who have experienced mid-air situations know the gulf between the virtual and the real.
The engine and other systems in the aircraft were working properly. What was required was good piloting. “At every moment, Urmila said, she was reminded of her training manual,” the source said.
Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh called Urmila and congratulated her today. She was kind of overwhelmed after taking calls through the day. “I did what was expected of me,” the source quoted her as saying.
Urmila, in her mid-forties, was in Calcutta from 2006 to 2008, after she joined Alliance Air — the wholly owned Air India subsidiary — as a junior pilot. The lady from Gurgaon had spent two years in an apartment off Haldiram’s on VIP Road and loved Park Street. Yes, she takes rosogollas home and she does devour fish curry.
She learnt to fly at the Karnal Aviation Club and worked as an instructor with several flying clubs before joining a private firm, from where she moved on to Alliance.
“She left Calcutta because she wanted to relocate closer to Gurgaon and joined the Airports Authority of India in 2008,” the source said.
However, she returned to Alliance in 2010 with a Delhi posting. Earlier this year, Urmila became a commander from a co-pilot.
In 2008, when Urmila landed an ATR in Kanpur, a Nilgai had come in the way. She pressed the brakes. “The antelope couldn’t be saved but the passengers were unscathed,” the source said.
Correction: The Telegraph had reported on Monday that the plane had an all-woman crew. The crew included a man, co-pilot Yeshu Bareja. We apologize for the mistake.
http://www.telegraphindia.com
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