Two Pilots Forget to Retract Landing Gear
Jennifer Billock July 27, 2017
So apparently you can’t fly a plane with the landing gear still down. Who knew?
A flight for India’s state-run airline, Air India, was diverted on July 22 for an uncommon reason: The two pilots never retracted the landing gear after they took off from Kolkata. The plane was carrying 100 passengers and landed safely in Nagpur after fuel levels reached a dangerous low. If the landing gear stays down, it increases drag on the plane and causes more fuel usage.
“The pilots were de-rostered after the incident was reported,” Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar told NDTV. “Investigation is on.”
The flight was originally bound for Mumbai. The pilots were unaware that the landing gear was still down when they noticed increasingly low fuel levels, and only realized the problem once they were preparing to land after the reroute.
“The pilots are supposed to check fuel at intervals through the trip, which they might not have done. Also, the A320 couldn’t climb beyond 24,000 feet,” an anonymous source told the Times of India. “The pilots began to prepare the aircraft for landing and it was only when they decided to put down the landing gear that they realized that it was down all along. For some reason, the pilots forgot to do it. With the wheels down, the drag force increases and the aircraft speeds rather noisily through the air.”
Reportedly, the pilots were surprised that neither the passengers nor the crew complained or noticed the noisy and bumpy ride from being at such a low altitude.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
It's AI. AI essentially redefines artificially (low) intelligence.
Rotate, establish a positive rate of climb, gear up. What were these pilots doing that these most basic steps were not carried out?
How in the hell does nobody notice?
Well, this is one way to avoid it.
Early in my U.S. Air Force career, somebody told me that there are two types of pilots: 1. Those who have landed with their wheels up; and, 2. Those who will.