VIP flights force 3 jets to land with no fuel to spare

[archae86]

The online Times of India site has an article:

ToI triple fuel emergency story (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/VIP-flights-force-3-jets-to-land-with-no-fuel-to-spare/articleshow/5989828.cms)

The initiating event is described as closure for VIP movements, separately for the President of India and the President of Turkmenistan. A 330 flight and two 737 flights are described as having declared fuel emergencies.

[iflytb20]

Wednesday's Jetlite flight JLL 108 from Mumbai landed with just enough fuel to remain airborne for three minutes. The Mumbai-Delhi Kingfisher flight IT 300 landed just 10 minutes before its fuel tank ran dry. Jet Airways 9W 2357 from Chennai made it onto the runway with fuel for just 13 minutes of flying time.Sounds too scary to be true. 3 minutes for a 737 is appx 300 Kg of fuel :ooh:

[Neptunus Rex]

Is there no suitable Indian Air Force base that could be used? Surely security would also be better on a military installation.

[alouette3]

Rex,
The unit that provides transportation to the Indian and visting dignitaries is located at an Air Force Station, which, conveniently,is located at the airport at Delhi.
Alt3

[ManaAdaSystem]

Jaipur is a poor alternate in the first place as they can only take 4 aircraft before they run out of parking space. Add the regular flights into Jaipur, then how many diverting aircraft do you think they can accept?

Q: Did they hold until they were below diversion fuel, or did they divert and had to hold over Jaipur while they waited for space to open up there?

[King Julian]

Chennai,India: Three days after the Mangalore aircrash, three planes that had been diverted from Delhi airport on account of VIP movement, had a narrow shave when they all but ran out of fuel above Jaipur airport. The three flights had more than 450 passengers on board at the time.
Wednesday's Jetlite flight JLL 108 from Mumbai landed with just enough fuel to remain airborne for three minutes. The Mumbai-Delhi Kingfisher flight IT 300 landed just 10 minutes before its fuel tank ran dry. Jet Airways 9W 2357 from Chennai made it onto the runway with fuel for just 13 minutes of flying time. Both Jet planes were Boeing 737s and carried 192 and 174 people each.
The Kingfisher plane was an Airbus 330 and had 158 people on board. Wednesday saw 11 flights diverted to Jaipur, Chandigarh and Lucknow, even as 20 others were forced to circle Delhi airport for an hour starting 9am. The airport was closed because of President Pratibha Patil's flight to China and Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdimunha-medov's flight to Agra.
The tension built up for planes queuing to land at Jaipur as challenging weather - gusts of wind and a duststorm - worsened conditions already difficult because of the absence of approach radar to monitor flight movement.
The pilots have filed 'flight safety reports' detailing the emergency situation to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
"The Kingfisher flight which first declared fuel emergency was allowed to land. The Jet Airlines flight, which had only 10 minutes of fuel left, declared emergency next, but it gave way to a Jetlite flight which radioed an emergency declaration," said a source.

When are these :mad:roughnecks going to learn..???:ugh::ugh::ugh:

[Nightrider]

With ICAO level 4 you may have been able to read this (http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/416679-toi-article-asserts-three-aircraft-declare-fuel-emergency-jaipur.html) :E

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Our Royal Family flies in and out of civil airfields with very little fuss. Whether that can be said for military establishments I do not know...

[masalama]

From reliable sources, JLL 108 landed at jaipur with 1.2 Tonnes on board, that is 3 minutes and full reserve (30' hold @1500) on board,i.e. 3' to declare a fuel emergency . Our professional aviation reporters as usual know jack schidt and love to get the first shocking news byte out....

What is shocking is due to security reasons , no NOTAM can be issued when VIP movements take place, what about the security and safety of the common man...? It's high time the president, PM and other ministers use their own money (not mine or yours) to fund their travel expenses and let them think of our security before theirs....bunch of rascals....:ugh:

Ok rant over , masalama:ok:

[Jazbag]

This is not the first time such a situation has happened... in the recent past the same story has been replayed many times... it is just the hawk eye media keeping tabs on aviation after the mangalore tragedy..

for gods sake let us learn from this ... at least now!!!

[M609]

I guess NOTAM-ing the VIP departure instructing TFC to bring extra fuel would be expecting to much?

The only "western" VIP that gets much in the way of "closing the airport" etc is the US president in my experience. Still, if you notam it, telling crews to bring 45 minutes extra, it works flawlessly.


3 minues in the tanks......scary! :mad:

[FLYCOUGAR]

Check the source of the news: Times of India, a media house that stands thoroughly discredited in India as far as aviation reporting goes.

Right now they are running a story on how an Dubai-Pune AI Express flight "plunged" thousands of feet and how it was a miraculous escape for all passengers. :rolleyes:

[GlueBall]

"VIP flights force 3 jets to land with no fuel to spare"

Typical journo hysteria. No pilots are "forced" to land with 3 minutes fuel remaining.

Experienced pilots would proceed to an alternate airport in a timely manner.

[sabenaboy]

Could anybody explain to me why it's necessary to close a whole airport + airspace because there are a couple of VIP flights arriving/departing?

Giving them priority? Ok, I can understand, but closing and sending hundreds of people into a diversion??? :ugh::ugh:

[CargoOne]

Could anybody explain to me why it's necessary to close a whole airport + airspace because there are a couple of VIP flights arriving/departing?

Giving them priority? Ok, I can understand, but closing and sending hundreds of people into a diversion???

It depends of combination who is VIPs and which airport it is.
However shutting down the whole airport for extended time is modus operandi for any trip of US and Russian presidents. Same goes for road traffic.

[Che Guevara]

Try the Gulf sometime for VIP movements....:ugh:

[flufdriver]

Same goes for Cuba, no notice to expect a hold due to airport closure because of VIP movement untill you've been switched over to approach control, which would allow you to hold at FL250 instead 100 and then no definite time for an EFC.

Life in the Tropics!

[ford cortina]

Morocco as well:eek:

[heavy.airbourne]

Could anybody explain to me why it's necessary to close a whole airport + airspace because there are a couple of VIP flights arriving/departing?

This one is easy: airheads and bloated egos!

[Three Mile Final]

Happened to me all the time in Doha ... PA-28 movements stopped for VIP, VVIP and VVVIP movements .... even sat on the ramp on the IAD bound 777 one day for an hour whilst the Air Force practised for National Day :ugh:

[NG_Kaptain]

Had a funny one while flying in to South American country years ago. My flight was delayed an hour because the president of said country was due to arrive the same time as we were and the airport was being closed, the funny thing is they didn't realize the reason the said president was arriving the same time as us was because he was a passenger on our flight.:)

[WALKINONCLOUDS]

I Have Flown Presidents And Heads Of State.......

I Kind Of Like Not Having To Wait For A Clearance Or Cleared To Land. Its Nice To Be Cleared To Land From 20 Miles Away..

Sorry For The Inconvenice Guys

[stepwilk]

It's obvious that you've flown presidents: You Write In Headlines.

[WALKINONCLOUDS]

Dont Hate The Players Hate The Game......

[n1_spindown]

it's a problem... somehow they seem to do it right in some countries. other countries where the can't coordinate or plan things properly it can turn into a real nightmare.

[Piltdown Man]

Giving heads of state and other lunchtime legends such ridiculous privileges is fortunately something we are cutting back on in Europe. If a person is either so despised that they are a juicy target or they have such an ego and require clear air all around, in my opinion, they can Eff. off elsewhere or stay at home. No exceptions.

PM

[edmundronald]

Biden's Leno Stop Clogs LAX; Passengers Furious | TheWrap.com (http://www.thewrap.com/television/column-post/biden-does-leno-stops-traffic-lax-passengers-furious-19120)

[HarryMann]

60 mile radius 'bubble' travels with him/themAll this would just seem to draw attention to the movements... certainly in the US, would seem to be like someone said, 'Security Theatre'

Over here, we still laugh at the length (& the environmental vulgarity) of cavalcades when certain foreign dignatories visit (US, Chinese etc)
.. and peeps talk of our pomp and ceremony :rolleyes: