Two pilots of an Air India flight forgot to retract the landing gear after taking off from Kolkata on Saturday 22nd of July.
Times of India has reported that the flight’s destination was Mumbai but because of the plane flying low and using more fuel, it had to be diverted to Nagpur.
"After take-off, both the women pilots forgot to retract the landing gear. As a result, the brand-new Airbus A-320 continued to ascend at a very low climb rate. The plane finally gave up climbing after reaching an altitude of 24,000 feet as the extended landing gear meant very heavy drag. It then levelled out (continued flying at 24,000 feet as opposed to the usually assigned level of 35-37,000 feet) and flew at 230 knots (426 kmph) for the next 1.5 hours," TOI reported
The pilots of AI 676 realised the wheels were out only while preparing to land in Nagpur due to low fuel.
“When preparing to land, they decided to lower the landing gear. At this point they realised that the wheels had been out all the while from Kolkata," said the source.
The landing gear hanging outside the plane meat that the aircraft had extra drag and burnt more fuel. Planes are designed to fly with minimum drag for better fuel efficiency and extended range.
A senior AI pilot attributed this lapse of judgement to either human error or casual approach.
Both pilots have been taken off duty and the investigation is ongoing.
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