Boy, it's noisy in here!
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They may have then found themselves overweight for an immediate landing. Why not burn the fuel at least going in the right direction?
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Agree with sleeper
There is "Gear up" on the After Takeoff checklist, but in my company we don't even have an After Takeoff or Approach Checklist. Things are done as part of flows. In reality there could've been a distraction which prevented them from retracting the landing gear for a while, but this error is normally trapped within 30 seconds or so. After a minute, things would get very noisy indeed. You would(should) realize immediately that this machine isn't climbing and increasing speed like normal, "what could be wrong"? You would then employ your basic panel scan that you learnt in pilot kindergarten and would see these 3 big green lights staring at you indicating GEAR DOWN!!! Your cabin crew might tell you about "a loud continuous noise". All of this would certainly prompt you to slow down and identify the issue.
If the reporting is true, and there was no malfunction here, take both the pilots and jail them for incompetence of the highest order as they seem incapable of operating even the most basic machinery let alone a $100,000,000 jet plane.
There is "Gear up" on the After Takeoff checklist, but in my company we don't even have an After Takeoff or Approach Checklist. Things are done as part of flows. In reality there could've been a distraction which prevented them from retracting the landing gear for a while, but this error is normally trapped within 30 seconds or so. After a minute, things would get very noisy indeed. You would(should) realize immediately that this machine isn't climbing and increasing speed like normal, "what could be wrong"? You would then employ your basic panel scan that you learnt in pilot kindergarten and would see these 3 big green lights staring at you indicating GEAR DOWN!!! Your cabin crew might tell you about "a loud continuous noise". All of this would certainly prompt you to slow down and identify the issue.
If the reporting is true, and there was no malfunction here, take both the pilots and jail them for incompetence of the highest order as they seem incapable of operating even the most basic machinery let alone a $100,000,000 jet plane.
Perhaps a gear pin was left in, that would also explain it.
This is soooo unbelievable.
As a comparison, have there been any instances wherein the crew forgot, and maintained their forgetfulness, to retract the flaps? I guess not.
@galaxy flyer: thanks. I remember now. I stand corrected. At Hapag LLoyd they screwed up, but possibly not as badly as these two clowns. Despite the good ending in this case.
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Because you wouldn't know that the gear pin was still in until you landed, all you would know is that you couldn't get the gear up. If you need to burn fuel (or dump it) to get below max landing weight anyway, you might as well fly on for awhile. Or maybe Nagpur is better for maintenance.
I once had the gear to drop in a climb due to ECAM "BRAKES HOT" on A320.
The plane was full seated but only about 8 tons of fuel. We barely could maintain FL240 with CLB thrust and green dot speed. Very noisy and vibrating, all FA and most of the pax noticed it!
Even my 20 yr old deaf dog would have noticed something isn't right with AI 676.
The plane was full seated but only about 8 tons of fuel. We barely could maintain FL240 with CLB thrust and green dot speed. Very noisy and vibrating, all FA and most of the pax noticed it!
Even my 20 yr old deaf dog would have noticed something isn't right with AI 676.
Last edited by gearlever; 25th Jul 2017 at 17:37.
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I remember something similar happening many many moons ago in a now defunct British regional airline.
Aircraft was to fly Gatwick to Blackpool on a night freight run, weather was miserable,heavy rain,pilots did walk around removed gear pins and found crosswind was out of limits so went back to the crew room to wait it out.When the wind fell within limits they returned to the aircraft but did not do another walk around because of heavy rain,and departed.
It was only after they got airborne and tried to retract the gear they found out that the ground crew had reinstalled the pins , but rather then return, they decided to continue to destination.
The incident only came to light when ops later on wanted to know why the flight took so long !!
Aircraft was to fly Gatwick to Blackpool on a night freight run, weather was miserable,heavy rain,pilots did walk around removed gear pins and found crosswind was out of limits so went back to the crew room to wait it out.When the wind fell within limits they returned to the aircraft but did not do another walk around because of heavy rain,and departed.
It was only after they got airborne and tried to retract the gear they found out that the ground crew had reinstalled the pins , but rather then return, they decided to continue to destination.
The incident only came to light when ops later on wanted to know why the flight took so long !!
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Could have been worse I suppose, at least VT-EXE is a single-bogie A320. 
One of the major mistakes the Hapag-Lloyd crew made in the VIE A310 mishap was relying on FMS fuels estimates in a non-clean configuration.
One of the major mistakes the Hapag-Lloyd crew made in the VIE A310 mishap was relying on FMS fuels estimates in a non-clean configuration.
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Originally Posted by Andy S
I believe they have radar and ATC in India?
And don't try and 'big up' ATC in India; it's bl00dy awful (having spent a lot of time flying into, out of and over the place...)
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At Hapag LLoyd they screwed up, but possibly not as badly as these two clowns.
Hmmmm...let me think... no, don´t agree.
Do we know ANYTHING yet but that newspaper article ? Roster, duty time etc ? Forgetting to bring the gear up sounds to me like something you´d easily be doing when really tired.
That's exactly the point I was making. Someone other than the pilots must have noticed that the aircraft wasn't at the correct altitude.
Most aircraft with retractable gear have limited gear down speeds not because of performance but structural damage eg: loss of fixed gear doors etc. Generally the noise in the flight deck from an extended nose gear would alarm the crew.
After a missed gear pin event, my airline insisted on the pins being shown to the crew and stowed in the flight deck; the tow crew had their own nose pin which they would hold up when signalling the all clear!
After a missed gear pin event, my airline insisted on the pins being shown to the crew and stowed in the flight deck; the tow crew had their own nose pin which they would hold up when signalling the all clear!
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After take off checks?
Not all A320 operators have an "After Take Off Checklist".
easyJet, for example.
I'll go and check how often this happens there.
I may be some time. Don't wait.
easyJet, for example.
I'll go and check how often this happens there.
I may be some time. Don't wait.
Last edited by Job Knockey; 25th Jul 2017 at 21:18. Reason: Spell check.
Yeah, something doesn't add up here IMHO. It would have been very easy for Air India to cover it up or to explain it with some tech trouble, instead they were unusual fast to point their finger at the pilots...