Indian Fireman Lands Plane

NEW DELHI – An airline controller in India forgot he had to go to work and left the landing of airplanes up to the ‘learn on the job skills’ of a brave fireman.

Passengers on board a Jet Airways plane in India are still alive today thanks to the quick thinking and fast acting of a fireman who landed the plane safely despite not having any air control experience.

For forty minutes the fireman, who was by himself in the control tower, followed instructions he received via his cellphone from another off-site air controller.

Not once during the entire nerve-wrecking 40 minutes ordeal did the passengers on board the plane know they were in great danger and could possibly die.

The intense moments occurred at the Renigunta airport in Tirupati in the province of Andhra Pradesh, India. The air controller on duty that day should have reported to work by 7AM but didn’t show up and no one took notice of his absence.

Two planes were scheduled to land at the airport during that time, a Spicejet with 106 passengers was due to land at 8AM, and the Jet Airways ATR-72, which was in the process of descending.

When the pilot of the Jet Airways flight didn’t get any response from the control tower, he panicked and decided to call the ‘boss’ of the airport’s air control directly.

The man in charge was still in bed at the time he received the urgent call from the pilot and he decided it was best a fireman would guide the plane down.

The boss called fireman Basha, told him to go to the airport control tower and land a plane following his landing instructions over the cell phone.

While the fireman guided both planes to a landing, following the ‘boss” instructions, a technician, conducting a routine checkup showed up in the tower.

Luckily for the fireman, the technician knew about air communications and landing control procedures. He also knew about weather conditions, information he forwarded to the fireman.

Forty minutes later, the Jet Airways plane was granted permission to land. At that moment another air controller entered the tower who took over landing instructions for the other flight.

The passengers on board Jet Airways were none the wiser of their ‘close call with death’ when they stepped out the plane moments after it had landed.

As for the air controller who didn’t show up for duty that day, he gave two reasons why he was not at work.

First he said he overslept but later changed that story saying he was convinced he didn’t work the morning but the late shift on that day.

No word on what disciplinary actions were taken against the man (if any) or if he was fired from his job because he almost caused two planes to crash and possibly kill a few hundred people by not showing up to work.

READ:
 Cheapest Car In The World Comes From India

 Share This:

---

What's Your Opinion?

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Got A Story? Email it to our news desk at Tip Line @ Nodeju.com

---

Latin Author Carlos Fuentes Has Died

MEXICO CITY – Carlos Fuentes, one of the generation of writers who brought modern Latin American fiction to the world stage, has died. His death at 83 was related to a heart condition, Mexico’s >> Full story

Iraninan Rapper Condemned To Death Penalty

BERLIN – Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi, a Germany-based Iranian singer, recently released a song with references to Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi, the 10th of the 12 Shiite Muslim imams, a religious figure >> Full story

 People who searched for air controller also checked these