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Indian pilot forgets to load enough fuel for his flight
Let me open by saying that the details of the incident I'm about to write about are sketchy at best. The report comes from an Indian news site, and appears to be translated quite poorly, it's still interesting enough to write about, but I highly recommend reading the source article for a real chuckle.
Apparently, the captain of Kingfisher flight IT335 was preparing for his Mumbai to Delhi flight, but failed to check his fuel loads. Of course, when you do this in your car, you get a "ping" and an orange light comes on, but on a fully loaded jet, things are a little more complicated.
To make matters worse, the jet encountered poor visibility upon its approach to Indira Ghandi Airport and the captain was not certified for those conditions.
Eventually, the plane managed to reach the airport, presumably running on fumes with a pilot not trained or certified for the weather conditions.
The story then recommends people to check with the captain that enough fuel was loaded. I'm sure that will go quite well, and I certainly plan to ask the flight attendant on my next flight to confirm with the captain that he loaded enough gas.
My next report will probably be about how the federal air marshal Tasered me and dragged me off the plane for demanding to check the fuel gauge in the cockpit.
Other "troublemakers of the sky":
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
ron bushby Jan 8th 2009 4:39PM
F.Y.I. John Denver crashed off the Calif. coast when his ultra light ran out of fuel maybe 10 + years ago. That was Sony Bono that hit the tree skiing.
NCFlyGirl Jan 8th 2009 4:50PM
As a licensed pilot I find it interesting that so many folks who don't fly seem to know so much about it. For those of you who do fly I say keep your airspeed up and shoot for "perfect" landings.
Bill West Jan 9th 2009 8:51AM
The pilot should go back to is telemarketing job...
selling extended warranties on appliances
tt-rexxx Jan 8th 2009 5:43PM
To the tard lolita who said that john denver ran into a tree skiing. That was sonny bono airhead.
Mary Mooney Jan 8th 2009 5:27PM
I flew Direct Air last week. When we boarded in AZO, the pilot said we had to make a stop over in Toledo because we did not have enough gas to get to
Sanford, FL. What? They don't have fuel in kalamazoo? Our flight was an hour late because of this stopover for fuel in Toledo. Go figure????
CAL10PILOT Jan 8th 2009 6:56PM
Doug said...
Hmmm, What do I expect from a shit hole scab airline like Continental???
The problem with the airlines today is the gutless wonders who allowed CO to sink by themselves.... yes, that would be the greedy ALPA union members who crossed CO picket lines. You brought the condition on yourself. Me? I'll sit in Hawaii, collecting my pay while the dolts fly for free.
tese42s Jan 8th 2009 7:00PM
Pilots are people too. We all make mistakes. Corporations do it on purpose. They hire mechanics from overseas that aren't certified, and get away with it. They could care less about a plane that they won't fly on. I use to like to fly but not now that they are trying to save money at the cost of saftey.
Ray Jan 8th 2009 8:03PM
I have news for you people, fuel starvation, (running out of gas), is the most common cause of aircraft accidents. It may seem simple to just put fuel in the aircraft, but it is sometimes sort of complicated. All aircraft have weight limits, to fly safely you try to remain within those limits. Therefore you don't always just fill her up. So you calculate how much fuel you will need and add a certain amount for a buffer in case you need to divert. Carrying around a lot of extra fuel wastes fuel, because gas weighs about 7 pounds a gallon, and at about $4.50 a gallon for av gas you really don't want to waste any. (Jet fuel is about 8 lbs a gallon). Then, things like weather and ATC can send you way out of your way, and even though you've flow this route a dozen times, you suddenly don't have enough fuel. There's also often many different tanks that you have to switch to, so that you burn evenly this sometimes causes problems also. Especially if there some other distraction. So yes you can laugh, and no, it should not ever happen. But, its not hard at all to run out of fuel in an aircraft.
chiefuk Jan 10th 2009 10:38PM
Hi John, is it true you are in England singing "Bye bye steak and kidney pie"