When flight 6E 2135 was just 1000 feet from landing:

Caution: Long read. Remember: “Take off is optional. Landing is Mandatory.” Proceed only if you want. Else abort and take a parachute out of this flight!

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That long hug said it all.

~

I had initially taken seat 13F during the web check in but when I realised my mistake I changed it to 32A and printed my boarding pass at the Hyderabad airport as I realised that in a south to north  bound flight, I will be able to see the sunset only from the left side of aircraft.

I had begun developing a sore throat an hour back at the airport and so after doing a hot gargle with disprin tablet in the flight toilet I settled into my seat.

I did get quite a good number of pictures and videos as the plane sliced through the clouds and banked to the right.

I put away my phone camera, picked up my book Spy Stories and began reading even as my co-passenger was deeply involved in the Rishi Kapoor movie Do Dooni Chaar on his phone and dozed off till the air hostess came with our meals and I nudged him awake.

I had my usual Upma and broke my vegan rule to have a masala chai for my throat and went back to the book.

What I also want to mention before I proceed further is the initial impression of the Captain of the flight. Her pre flight introductions and announcement seemed a bit mumbled.

She was not an exception and I have many a times wondered what would it take many a pilots to speak clearly.

Nevertheless I was lost in the book except for the occasional moment when I would raise my head to see outside the window. You see; the little boy in me is still alive and I still marvel at things and my curiosity keeps me alive.

It had become dark and we were on schedule for our 7.45 pm touch down at the Delhi airport.

I put away my book and even the gentleman next to me had woken up, put on his shoes and generally the flight seemed all set for a regular touchdown as I had experienced so many times before.

Here I must also mention that there was a bunch of half a dozen, boisterous and noisy beefcakes that had boarded the flight from the back gate and were all seated in the back rows.

From my seat I saw clearly the blacked out old Centaur hotel as we came down to land and I straightened myself on the seat for the touchdown.

The cabin lights were dimmed as is customary.

We had even crossed into the airport perimeter wall and I thought that we were just seconds away from touchdown when it happened.

Now I used to watch lots of aircraft crash investigation videos and also another programme called Seconds from Disaster.

But none of that ever prepares you for the real thing.

Just after crossing the perimeter wall, I felt the flight being lifted automatically by some external force and then the engines revving up and adding further thrust.

In a moment I knew that the landing was aborted.

Given my throat we had not even exchanged pleasantries throughout the flight till then but in a moment, instinctively, as if I was duty bound, I turned to my co-passenger and told him through my face mask that the landing had been aborted.

He just nodded in agreement and started straining his neck to catch a glimpse outside.

A number of possibilities flashed through my mind in the next fraction of a second - either there was an aircraft still on the tarmac or some obstacle was spotted and things like that and our plane was taking evasive action.

I even remembered scenes from aborted landings on an aircraft carrier when fighter planes rev up at the last moment and take off without a touchdown either due to a wildly bobbing ship caused by extreme weather or when the landing arrestor cable is missed or when it snaps after hooking (It’s even more dangerous then. Planes most often topple over the deck into the sea and the pilot has just a fraction of a second to fire the ejection sequence and parachute safely into the sea.)

All this happened in a flash of a few seconds three weeks ago the same day as today - a Thursday; the April 14th.

But the real reason was revealed as we crossed over the T-1 terminal which was under an upgrade at that time.

Even in the darkness interspersed by the lights across the massive airport complex, I could see a cloud of dust enveloping the airport. It was a storm that descended over the airport and in the next few seconds as we were rising above the T-3 terminal I saw a completely drenched airport complex.

But none of us were prepared for what lay ahead of us; not even the boisterous beefcakes in the back. In fact the next few minutes brought out their human side of fear, beneath the facade of a gym built confidence.

Even as I am typing all this, I can so clearly remember and still visualise all that was happening inside the plane exactly three weeks ago at this very time.

As the aircraft was trying to gain altitude and go above the low cloud cover, we passed through severe turbulence - of a sort that none of us in the plane seemed to have gone through before; except, as I guess in retrospect, the pilots and the crew.

Two and a half weeks after that day when on this Monday the May 2nd I read about the ordeal of the passengers in the Spicejet flight from Mumbai to Durgapur that faced a similar situation where 14 passengers and 3 crew members were badly injured is when I realised how better off we were given that we were all belted up in the flight.

But that day our plane bobbed wildly up and down in the storm.

While on a Spicejet flight from Jaipur to Mumbai on May 28th or 29th 2013, I had experienced weightlessness as our flight plunged some 1000-2000 feet after take off due to turbulence and I had strangely remained emotionally unaffected, this time it was different.

Usually I am calm in serious situations. It’s one of my congenital blessings along with the blessing of a good sleep the moment I hit the bed no matter what.

But that day I was affected.

And I don’t know why.

I experienced fear and uncertainty along with almost all the other passengers.

I quickly took out my phone and typed a message for my wife: Severe storm just seconds before landing and we took off again. Severe turbulence in the air.

Of course it didn’t go as we were above network signals. (That undelivered message is still on my phone.)

I kept my phone on standby to type another message in case it was to be the final one with the idea that I will switch off the airplane mode seconds from crashing and hope that my final message of love, sorry and gratitude would reach my family even if I didn’t.

Now, there was a young family in row 31 A-C. The lady was in the window seat and she had been taking a number of pictures from the window using her digital SLR camera after our take off from Hyderabad. The sound of her camera reminded me of my own good old Nikon FM 10 camera I used to use till a few years back when I was passionate about photography. Of their two children, the younger toddler hardly two years old was giving them all kinds of trouble, refusing to be seat belted.

I even played peekaboo with that boy when he used to peer through the seats while he was on his father’s shoulder or would stand on the middle chair next to his older brother.

It was fun as I remembered my time with my own children when they were his age at a time that now looks long lost forever.

But then as we were bobbing up and down and being tossed around, the child was asleep and I leaned forward through my chair and told the mother to belt the kid. She expressed her helplessness saying that the child will throw a fit.

I raised my voice and told her to ignore it and belt the child lest it’s thrown up in the aircraft in case of a sudden lunge downwards or in case of a loss of cabin pressure or even worse in case there was a blow out in the fuselage followed by a loss in cabin pressure.

What prompted my concern was the scene that flashed through my mind that time. It was a scene from the 2012 Denzel Washington movie Flight where an air hostess was lent upside down as the plane went into a dive and she was knocked unconscious.

What was also at the back of my mind was the incident from an airborne accident in the Hawaiian Aloha Airlines Flight 243 of 1988 when an air hostess was sucked out of the torn fuselage that ripped off in the middle of the flight.

My raised voice and insistence seemed to do the job and even the gentleman sitting next to me joined in asking the parents to do what I told them.

Finally she managed to seat the child on her lap with its face towards her chest and she tightly wrapped her hands around him. I leaned in once more and told her to quietly put the belt around the child as well once he settles down.

In a matter of minutes the child slept off even as the rest of the flight lost its.

Even as we were struggling to climb, all kinds of thoughts were flashing through my mind. I was trying to imagine the final moments and how quickly the ball of fire would erupt and engulf all of us. I just wanted it to be as fast as possible in case we were to crash and catch fire.

In the meanwhile my co-passenger started chanting Om Nama Shivay. As the sound caught my ear, I was sure that every believer in the plane except atheists like me would be praying at that moment.

At that moment, I happened to remember a famous line that - most lies are spoken under oath in a court of law even if people put their hands on the holy books of their religion and most truths are blurted out under the spell of alcohol!

To that I felt like adding that utmost sincerity in prayers are seen when a ship is about to sink or a plane is lurching through a turbulence like that.

At that moment, I happened to remember a line from the National award winning Malayalam cult classic movie of 1991 - Sargam where the bed and guilt ridden foster mother of the hero, on her deathbed, wishes only for sadness in her life so that she can remember god all the time!

At that time, I noticed that each time the plane plunged, there was big leap of fear from one of the beefcakes at the back. And it got only louder with each lurch, lunge and plunge.

I was quite scared by that time and instinctively tried to hold onto the arm rests and when that wasn’t reassuring, I tried holding onto the seat head in front. 

It was of no avail in those moments when the plane lunged down.

At that moment, I wondered why we hadn’t heard from the pilot or even the co-pilot yet.

Of course they would be focused on steadying the plane and get it out of danger zone; I realised.

At that moment, my thoughts didn’t got to the packets of sweets bought on the recommendation of my well wisher Ms. Mehek Wadhwa from the famous G. Pula Reddy shop near the Inorbit Mall in Hyderabad that I had bought for my family and maids.

At that moment, my thoughts didn’t go to the previous day when I had a great flight to Hyderabad by Vistara about which I have written earlier; when I also had a great meeting with Mr. Andrew Fleming - the British Deputy High Commissioner in Hyderabad; when I also had a great session with the client in Hyderabad followed by a great drum circle conducted for all of us by a person from Ghana and his Indian team.

At that moment, I got irritated by the screams of the unseen man from behind who was losing it with each lurch. Finally I turned my head around and muttered loudly: Kaun hai bey?

Not that it reached even the row behind me given all the turbulence induced sounds inside the plane.

I was worried that our already frayed nerves would get further aggravated by the mirror neurons effect if that man continues to scream. I was worried about the scenario where a majority of people start screaming with him and make the job of the crew and pilots even more difficult.

But today as I write this, I feel greater empathy for him.

This small sample video clip will give you an idea of what was it like inside that aircraft that day: https://youtube.com/shorts/62rpxXBVcfY?feature=share.

At that moment, I no longer had a concern for the captain’s earlier mumbled voice.

Given the scene inside the plane and for all of our safety, I just wanted her to hold her nerves steady and steady the aircraft.

It’s anyway an unfair world for girls and women and the last thing I wanted idiots to start muttering was their doubts in the pilot just because of her gender. Flying is a skill that is gender independent.

I am proud of so many women that I know personally and otherwise that even as I was nervous up in the air, I didn’t want things to be any more difficult because of what was happening that day.

Even though I am an atheist who nevertheless loves listening to beautiful prayers, bhajans and hymns, I was silently but affirmatively wishing that our pilot succeeds that day.

Finally we pulled clear and I could see the ground clearly as you see in the photo that I took from the window.

And that’s when she came on the public address system and in a clear throated, loud and steady voice shared what had happened and that they were in a hold position for the next 15 minutes and that we would be circling in the air.

After the first two rounds, I started talking to the gentlemen next to me and it was quite interesting and in a way assuring for me to learn that he was an aircraft engineer who had retired from the Air India two years ago and was currently working as Director of business development in a financial services company that had offices in Delhi and Hyderabad.

Later I wondered what would have been if I had remained at seat 13-F?

We couldn’t figure out where we were circling and I was especially intrigued by this long road that you see in the photo.

We also discussed that we might land in Jaipur if the weather doesn’t improve.

Even though I knew that planes always carried reserve fuel, that day my nerves made me share my concern about fuel adequacy if we were to eventually turn towards Jaipur (at a nautical distance of just 231 kilometres) given that we had been circling for about half an hour when I expressed this concern to Mr. Sanjay Singh.

He quietly reassured me that there would be enough fuel.

Now I had a new fear; something that I never knew before. I used to love it each time a plane I was in would turn and bank in either directions. But that day I felt my body get triggered automatically each time it banked to its left while circling. I would feel my stomach tighten into a knot.

I just tried to hold even tighter on the arm rests and the seat ahead. Par dil thaa ki mana hee nahi.

Finally the captain announced that we had got clearance to land on runway number 27 at the airport.

I asked Mr. Singh about it and he told me that the numbering system is as per international norms of the IATA - the International Air Transport Association.

Even as the weather looked clear after what looked like a short storm caused by the heat in the preceding weeks in Delhi and the western disturbances and even as the city lights below shone bright, the plane did experience occasional jerks as we lined up to land. And it triggered a fear that I had never experienced before in any of the flights I had taken in my life.

To divert my attention I started talking to Mr. Singh about the various things I had heard about a plane but remained confused about - like the difference and functions of ailerons, elevators and flaps; what’s meant by reversing the engines on a touch down, etc.

I then just sat back in my seat and we all held our breath as we came in to land.

This time we came from a different side and with seconds left to touch down I wondered if the passengers would clap on a safe landing.

As the nose wheel also touched the ground, the passengers indeed exploded into an impromptu and collective applause and the loudest heave came from the bulks at the back.

It was then that I saw the other planes that had also landed immediately behind us and were taxiing to their slots. There was a Vistara and a Go First behind us while we were still at the apron after landing and I could see a line of planes in the sky all lined up to land.

I guessed that people in those flights would also have gone through a similar experience as us in that Airbus A-321 neo plane.

The plane taxied towards T-2 terminal and then we were taken to the terminal building by the Indigo buses. It was the bus driver who told us that we were just 1000 feet from landing when the storm hit.

By the time we all got out I am sure none of us had any complaint about Indigo not being “on time” that day.

We were all just glad and grateful with something else. I am sure I don’t need to spell that out here.

My only disappointment was when I heard the bulks tell the crew at the back while disembarking: Aaj to dara diya aapney. (You scared us today.)

Even though people in this part of the world are accustomed to saying things like that in a jest, I felt upset at that time and felt that they could have avoided it and said something appropriate and appreciative beyond their claps.

Nevertheless, as I write this today, I happened to remember an important presupposition from NLP: People do their best based on the resources available to them at that point of time.

That allows me to move forward today and not be righteous and judgmental.

Mr. Singh gave me his card and of course we were going to be in touch given the incident that bond us together.

We shook hands and said our byes.

After the rushes at the restroom I bought two packets of vegetable sandwiches for Ajay - our family driver and me given the hour long delay and the long drive home.

As I strode out to the pick up area outside T-2 and waited for Ajay, I could see familiar faces from the flight coming out with their luggage and calling their relatives or the cab drivers.

A golden Maruti Zen car caught my eye as it swerved into the pick up area. Initially because of my mother-in-law’s car of the same colour but then because a small, tired looking girl sitting on the passenger side while being driven by its mother. It stopped a few paces ahead of me and even as the mother went to open the dicky, I saw a young boy of maybe 6/ 7 years of age and his spectacled and clean shaven father rush towards the little girl.

The boy was excited to see his sister and even as he began asking her something inaudible to me, the man just picked her up and held her tight to his chest. He didn’t seem to say anything to her but the duration of that hug even as his wife was loading all the bags into the dicky said it all.

That hug said it all.

The father and son were indeed passengers in the flight that I was in.

After a moment of hesitation and after remembering that regret is more powerful, I rolled my stroley bag towards them and asked him if they were in the Hyderabad flight?

Surprised, he asked me how I knew?

I said: That hug said it all!

He nodded his head with a smile and as his wife came around, she asked me what happened. She said that her husband hadn’t told her anything about the delay after landing.

I told her all in brief.

She just said: Everything is god’s will and that she was very grateful to god for landing them safely.

I chose not to counter or challenge her. Instead I just smiled quietly.

We exchanged our names and I learnt his name was Mayank. We shook hands and as we parted I wished the family well.

I came back to my position and I noted the  Delhi number plate and the last digits of the vehicle: 5011; you know just in case we were to meet again or if he were to ever come across this post; even though I know it’s a 1 in a billion chance.

Nevertheless my car also came around and we stopped after crossing the hotels in the Delhi Aerocity area to have our sandwiches and then proceeded home.

In all this melee and because I was seated at the back and further because everyone was in a tearing hurry to get off the plane, I couldn’t check with the crew at the back, for the captain’s name. She had shared her name as something starting with the letter M but as I said earlier, it wasn’t clear for me.

I wanted to thank her and appreciate her for holding her nerves steady and doing a professional job. I wanted to tell her to feel proud of how she did her job despite the external challenges.

But as I was writing this, I figured out a way to find and get the message across to her and I will do it soon.

Earlier I used to call my family before take off and after landing and I would also tell my wife my training room details along with the telephone number of the venue as I would keep my phone on silent mode during my sessions.

Since that day she insists that I also tell her the flight number and the scheduled landing time.

I am sure all of us in those flights that evening would be affected by the experience in many ways.

How was I affected?

Well, I’ve flown twice to Hyderabad and back since that day and each time the plane banked in those 4 flights, I didn’t look out.

Instead I forcefully immersed myself in the remaining pages of that book: Spy Stories by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott Clark.

And I will tell you why.

As I said earlier I used to love looking out of the window each time a plane used to turn and bank. But as flight 6E2135 did that day while circling over Hapud, near Delhi during that hold, I happened to remember the crash of a Russian military plane years ago where the pilot had banked too much and it lost balance and fell down from the sky.

Well, I have work laid out ahead of me in the coming weeks: I have to do an EFT session on myself to free myself of this fear and the residue left inside after that day.

Sohum

😌🙏🏽🙏🏽