7 approaches , 600lbs fuel left in a 737 of Jet airways in almost VFR
 

Something strange here, look at the weather... hardly below minimums

reported here Incident: Jet Airways B738 at Trivandrum on Aug 18th 2015, landed below required final fuel reserve on 7th approach

A Jet Airways Boeing 737-800, registration VT-JFA performing flight 9W-555 (dep Aug 17th) from Doha (Qatar) to Kochin (India) with 142 passengers and 8 crew, was on approach to Kochin and went around three times due to weather. Following the third go-around the crew declared fuel emergency and diverted to Thiruvananthapuram (in India often also referred to as short "Trivandrum"), located about 95nm south of Kochin, where the aircraft again needed to go around three times before managing a safe landing on the fourth approach.

On Aug 21st 2015 India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) reported the aircraft landed with just 270kg/600lbs of fuel left, where the required minimum fuel reserve would have been around 1500kg/3300lbs. The aircraft had gone around 3 times in Kochin due to bad weather, the crew then decided to divert to Trivandrum, which had poor weather conditions, too, and managed a landing there only on the 4th attempt. Both pilots have been suspended pending investigation. The DGCA reported they are looking into the airline's fueling policy as well as into the weather reports and why the crew diverted to Trivandrum.

Metars Kochin:

VOCI 180100Z 00000KT 1800 BR BKN004 SCT015 24/22 Q1008 NOSIG
VOCI 180030Z 00000KT 2000 BR SCT006 SCT015 24/22 Q1007 TEMPO VIS 1500 BR
VOCI 180000Z 00000KT 3000 BR SCT006 SCT015 24/22 Q1007 TEMPO VIS 2000 BR


Metars Trivandrum:

VOTV 180310Z 25006KT 3000 HZ FEW015 SCT090 27/23 Q1009 NOSIG
VOTV 180140Z 23004KT 2000 BR FEW015 SCT090 26/23 Q1008 NOSIG
VOTV 180040Z 29003KT 3000 HZ FEW015 SCT090 25/23 Q1007 NOSIG

1.8kms of vis, BR and broken 400ft and you say Almost VFR?

Are you a pilot?

Should be well above minimums unless the crew was restricted to high mins.:sad:
Fair enough to go missed if unstable, but with calm winds, it should be a cake walk.

@ Oscar84

I don't know about anywhere else but at least in Chicago, it is considered fair weather...

Yep... and this is a piece of cake as you too should be aware of if you are a practicing pilot...

Ils mins VOCI is 320'(290) and 750m RVR (reduced to 650m with AP or FD to DA)... even adding 100ft and 400m for high mins you should be able to easily make it in under the worst reported Cochin weather .

Seven approaches when the wx was never below CAT1!

More to this story than being told. Indian aviation is a seriously worrying entity.

Quite possibly the METAR was inaccurate. Its also not uncommon for some Towers to just read out the CAVOK METAR, rather than look at the 500m heavy rain out the window.

not in india..they dont deviate here

VOCI is notorious for low clouds on approach just around sunrise. The morning mist rises and forms clouds at around 200-300 feet. Unfortunately this is rarely reported by the Met department - along with the standard tailwind :rolleyes:

As per the ground staff, VOTV had some low clouds on that day. My guess is, they never saw the runway till they busted the minimums on their 7th approach.

From the posts below, you are dealing with intransigent m****rf**king twats!:ok:

Calm winds, nice slow and stabilized?
Go to the minimums, take a good look, then take another good look:
Oops, here is the approach lights, here is the runway lights, and here is the runway. No drama, no 6 missed approaches, no minimum fuel and no emergency.

Amazing. The skygod gets to minimums (DA ) and then looks for this and that! Wow, amazing indeed...the slips are beginning to show!!!:=:=:=


P/s take note of this post and archive it. It ain't gonna last very long over here!

270kg in an 800, WOW!

What kind of approach at VOTV, can you auto land off it?

I'd be getting very nervous with less than 1000kg fuel.

Huh? Been smoking crack today? :sad:

Dog, I think he's trying to tell you that a professional crew don't go below minimums as you appeared to suggest in your earlier post. Doing that will mean a very short career in aviation. A professional crew would never allow this kind of situation to develop in the first place.

I would never advocate busting minimums and you are right, a very short career indeed.
With the kind of viz they had, ground contact could probably be established before minimums, as in Vertical Visibility.
Whatever, 6 go-arounds seems excessive, I have flown quite a bit in India and seen the conditions first hand, hence my comments.

With low fuel they would of course declare an emergency, then go below minimums as needed,
to get on the ground in one piece
I was behind the B-707 that crashed in JFK as he ran out of fuel, it was painful to listen to.
Should have declared an emergency, then followed the ILS to the runway..

The ILS for RWY 32 in TRV is U/S as per NOTAM.

.....dog, you are indeed backtracking. The slip is indeed showing!

There are weather phenomenon whereby the slant visibility can be very different from reporting prevailing visibility.

My only grind, the crew should have buggered off somewhere better after the second go around. If unable and committed to land there, then declare an emergency to ATC to get the ILS all protected and all other services ready for any eventuality and make a " blind autolanding ".:ok:

Yeah, I don't want to leave the impression that I advocate or recommend busting minimums.
In most cases there is no reason to: Alternate airport and reserve fuel, use plan B.
If there is no plan B, declare an emergency and use all resources.

"As for the slip is indeed showing"..:rolleyes:

Whats interesting is there were other aircraft landing at these airports too... only one did 6 misses.