Tag: aviation

How are slots allotted to airlines for operation form an Airport?

Anil Goyal

With the increase in air traffic at the major airports in the country, the capacity of many airports has been constrained. Therefore to ensure most efficient use use of airport infrastructure and in order to maximise the benefits to the greatest number of airport users, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has a policy for allocation of constrained or limited airport capacity to airlines and other aircraft operators, through a transparent and equitable mechanism so as to ensure viable airport and air transport operations.

Suicide – Murder in Air: Should air-travellers be worried?

Anil Goyal

Wall Street Journal citing US officials investigating the Eastern China B737-800 crash in March 22 suggests that someone in cockpit gave control inputs which sent the plane into steep dive crashing at remote hill and killing everyone on board. If confirmed by NTSB this would be the third major disaster attributed to pilot suicide- murder. This includes German Wings flight in 2015 that was flown into French hills by co-pilot and Mozambique Airlines flight in Nov 2013. Reoccurrence of such incidents has highlighted the worry of air travellers for the safety. Should they be worried or scared to step into the aircraft for their future travel.

Thunderstorms

Anil Goyal

Thunderstorms are one of the most beautiful atmospheric phenomenon. As a pilot, however, thunderstorms are one of the most hazardous conditions you can encounter. Thunderstorms can produce severe turbulence, low level wind shear, low ceilings and visibilities, hail and lightning. Each of these hazards can be difficult to cope with; if all these conditions arrive at once, it can be disastrous. Understanding basic thunderstorm formation and structure can help you make safe decisions.

Aerobatics and Fun!

Anil Goyal

Aerobatic flight means manoeuvres intentionally performed by the pilot that involve
(a) bank angles in excess of 60 degrees; or
(b) pitch angles in excess of 45 degrees, or otherwise abnormal to the aircraft type; or
(c) abrupt changes of direction angles of bank, angles of pitch, or speed.

Triviality Effect and Flight Deck

Anil Goyal

Pilots are responsible for many time-consuming duties before, during and after a flight. In addition to actual flight duties which are shared between pilot flying (PF) and pilot monitoring (PM), most of them are routine in nature like including weather assessments, filing flight plans, performing pre-flight checks on aircraft and filing post-flight reports, to ensure each flight is operated to the highest level of safety. The workload of flightdeck crew varies during different phases of flight and is maximum during critical phase like taxi, take off, initial climb and subsequently…

Should Group Exercises be Part of Pilot Recruitment Process?

Anil Goyal

I qualify pilots as respectable professionals as good as doctor, engineers or lawyer. They are life long learners who endure long years of training and experience to qualify and excel in their professions. While a CV and an interview were enough in earlier times, most airlines discovered that this wasn’t the most effective way of selecting the right candidate because there were many instances in which they missed the negative traits and also forgot to credit positive skills at times. Hence apart from checking skill and knowledge, Aptitude, psychometric, an English Proficiency test is also carried out for non native speakers. But what is lacking in the selection process is group test to evaluate team work, leadership and other human factors while under stress .