AT YOUR OWN RISK

 Air travel is supposed to make our travails into joyous pleasurable and fun rides and generally that is what it is. After all we have travelled distant far flung lands  in comfort  and in good time. We in the Army can’t forget our long winded convoys moving like a giant caterpillar and spending days together in cramped buses and trucks. We were really desperate pulling out all stops to secure a seat in the Air Courier, while preferred choice was Air India/Jet Airways but even the IAF IL-76 was considered a boon. The air courier journeys themselves are worth another blog, as we had goats, sheep, chickens, dogs also as our co passengers. Once in a while we had to make do with AN-32s as well, not as sturdy as the Ilyushins but still a lot better than the  ATRs, the smaller aircrafts utilised for those circuits where the passenger traffic is not adequate for a Boeing or Air Bus. ATRs also ply on those routes where the runways are too small or the approaches too difficult for bigger aircrafts to negotiate. By now, I have you wondering as to why am I, a hard core pongo (Army guy) talking about aircrafts. 

Well well.. on 14th Feb, the Valentine’s day,  we had a little escapade with the ATRs,  just a routine flight from Indore to Jabalpur for the Corps Reunion, taking off on time in true Indigo punctual airlines fashion.But midway the Pilot was on the microphone informing about visibility at the destination being poor and that the flight was likely to be delayed by about half an hour. Total flying time was just about 50 minutes and here we were in air for almost more than two and a half hours and still with no clue about our descent. Those of us travelling without our respective Valentines felt this was the punishment reserved for us.  This was getting scary and reminded me of another day, another flight which gave the passengers the idea of what a 1000 feet free fall was like. Air Deccan, the low cost budget airline had just been launched and they offered to fly people for just Rs 1 taxes extra, this was sometime in 2006-07 sometime, we booked ourselves on a flight from Delhi to Indore. We were a large brood with nine of us, siblings and kids in tow with my granny being the oldest who was touching nineties. It seemed like a jam packed flight and the aircraft was good old ATR, thankfully there weren’t any passengers without a seat, as with such ridiculous fares you could expect people prepared to travel standing. Halfway home, there was a sudden gust of cyclone which hit Central India and before the pilots could warn us the aircraft plunged into a sudden drop of altitude by almost a 1000 feet, masks dropped and our hearts were in our mouth, some people were heard shrieking and praying but my granny was cool as cucumber totally unfazed, as though it was one of those routine affairs for her. We were concerned naturally but in dire straits, numbers also help instil some courage. Thankfully,  the pilot also managed to stabilise the aircarft and we landed at Bhopal till the pocket of turbulence in Indore improved. But mind you the aircraft on the tarmac was of no comfort as the AC was not functional and it was quite a torture spending the better part of an hour there stranded.

The Captain of this Indigo flight, a Sikh gentleman aided by his first officer a lady pilot seemed to be in total control of the situation and decided to keep circling in and around Jabalpur, till he ran short of fuel waiting for the fog to clear. He then diverted to Nagpur and landed there for refuelling and sure enough by then even weather Gods had decided to permit us to go ahead for the Reunion at Jabalpur, else a 300 km road drive would not have been very welcome and may have ended up throwing a spanner in the works. May be for flights in  ATR (At your own Risk), the Air Lines should give out the statutory warning Flying in ATRs is at your own risk’ !