I would like to share an interesting anecdote about 12 years ago it was last weekend of the year ,i was operating a four sector flight and last leg was Gauhati - Delhi . At Gauhati after exercising due diligence extra fuel was uplifted and i also changed my alternate to Lucknow instead of Jaipur so that i get extra cushioning for fuel where as Jaipur stayed as my first alternate .Now after doing walk around as i was climbing stairs of my aircraft B - 737 - 800 i just had an intuition that i should uplift some more fuel ,i turned back went down informed ground engineer about change in fuel figure adding another 500 Kgs . We took off it was a normal flight as expected we were getting jet stream ,very strong head winds thereby reducing our ground speed and delaying arrival into Delhi now at 1900 hrs .Close to Varanasi we monitored latest Delhi weather all was normal , overhead Lucknow again checked up Delhi and Lucknow weather ,Delhi visibility was alright but Lucknow visibility had dropped considerably but still it was above our requirement . Winter time Fog was setting in and we Commenced our approach into Delhi at 28 miles from Delhi ATC informed us latest visibility 2500 Meters trend reducing our minimum requirement was an RVR (Runway Visual Range )550 Mts hence we carried on I had two aircrafts ahead of me and we all were following Radar instructions . Next i hear ATC asking number one aircraft what is your minima as RVR fluctuating presently 800 mts ,that aircraft s requirement was also 550 mts so he continued approach and landed , now no. 2 aircraft which is just ahead of me was advised RVR 600 mts that aircraft replied its below his landing minima and he diverted . Now its my turn ATC advised me RVR 550 Mts we told him it is with in minima we are continuing the approach within 10 to 15 seconds ATC informs RVR 400 Mts request intentions ,we told we are discontinuing our approach and diverting to Jaipur .After a while ATC informs VIP flight is diverting from Delhi to Jaipur so your landing into Jaipur may be delayed ,time not known at present .At this point we decide since extent of delay is not known and Lucknow wx is above our minima ,also we did cater fuel for Lucknow so we decide to divert to Lucknow. Little eased out we start planning our diversion . As we came in contact with LKO i heard another aircraft was starting ILS approach into LKO . It was a full moon night and looking down i could see shallow fog and ground was not visible at all entire north belt was under thick blanket of fog .I was still 70 miles from LKO decided not to descend below 10000 ft as mentally i was continuously calculating my fuel requirements for JAIPUR as weather was good and fuel manageable but can not take any delay .Finally i heard number one aircraft carried out a go around as due to fog he was not able to land and he was diverting to Varanasi. We advised LKO and DEL that now we are diverting to JAIPUR .Delhi advised me not to fly over Mathura refinery ! here i was under load of double diversion told him i am setting direct course for Jaipur had no clue about refinery at this juncture . I climbed to 16000 ft miserly saving on to every drop of fuel which was my only priority . Now the thunderbolt strikes , Delhi informs me that Jaipur has refused to accept my flight as no parking bay is available request intentions ? I said continuing to Jaipur ,Delhi said unable to allow you to proceed as one VIP ,one domestic and one international cargo flight on ground hence no bay available .I replied i will park on the Runway .ATC replied in that case Runway will be closed ,i said since you are not letting me land Runway is closed now also . He said but Jaipur is not accepting you change over to JAIPUR and come back . Jaipur repeated the same thing all this was delaying my descend my eyes glued to fuel gauge mind to distance and time under-tremendous pressure few more minutes and i will be critical on fuel . Same thing no parking bay again and again finally i told him ,i will park on the runway refuel and take off for Ahmedabad . ATC told me to stand by after about a minute he told me to make one hold at present position and than descend to 8000ft little bit of more delay he cleared me for approach and landing . Fuel was very very critical on landing ,never seen those figures ever . I was allowed to park on the old runway . My smart First Officer had informed our company about our diversion to Jaipur but it was an off line station i did not expect anything soon ,he had also kept passengers informed As we closed the paper work and came out of cockpit to go down so that we can co ordinate with handling agent i was stopped immediately by an ARMY OFFICER HE INTRODUCED HIMSELF AS AN ADC TO THE GOVERNOR OF ASSAM WHO WAS ON BOARD WITH US AND DEMANDED PROTOCOL FOR THE GOVERNOR HE SAID SIR WANTS YOU TO FIRST GET BOUQUET AND GARLAND FOR THE GOV .AND HIS WIFE AND ALSO HIS RED BEACON CAR ,GET PROTOCOL DEPARTMENT TO RECEIVE HIM AS HE IS A STATE GUEST THEN ONLY HE WILL LET YOU GO DOWN !!!!! All the stress that had accumulated in last four hrs vanished ,me and my first officer had a hearty laugh after getting down ,here two souls just had a flight and a fright of our lives and Governor sahib wanted all this .
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 22:37:19 +0000
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