Listening to how calm the pilots were, I really didn’t realize just how serious of a situation this was considering all failures they had. That crew was amazing including the ATC.
@@BobBlarneystone that is because they were suicidal and wanted to take out the whole plane while they were going out. we need to eliminate pilots from the mix- they are too dangerous.
@@BobBlarneystone they did inform tower after a go around, and auto land has failed best they can do is enter a holding pattern for better weather or divert
Have you seen how transportation in India works in general? Relatively speaking, these pilots felt pretty safe the entire time. The captain barely even spilled his curry.
Just as brave as any passenger. In fact passengers are more brave as they are on for the ride with no control while the pilots have that added security of being in control.
I'll be barbarically honest here. I expected this to end in tragedy, considering the weather conditions, the low fuel, and the alerts that were generated early on in the flight. This was some excellent airmanship. Fantastic CRM, at least from my perspective. Grateful that the ATC worked with the flight crew to ensure that they could get to safety. Lastly, I applaud the pilots for holding their composure during an extremely stressful situation. Hats off to everyone who worked to ensure that there would be a happy ending instead of a tragic one. 👏👏👏
@@luca7069 Yes it has been like that since Air India got Nationalized. Now it's Privatized again, back to the Parent Company "Tata Industries" last year and much needed changes are going on in Airlines right now.
I was on that flight. After the initial missed approach, the pilot announced that there has been some instrumentation failures. We were oblivious to the details (thankfully) but I was anxious from that point till the plane landed. I am glad it turned out well at the end. Grateful to the pilots and others involved!
@@visionist7 Yes, it did. We had to sit in the plane with no power for quite long (60-90 mins, IIRC). It became hot and dark inside. The little ones started crying and their parents lost patience and started yelling at the authorities. After thorough security checks, we were allowed to step out of the plane. The immigration desk was not prepared for the additional load and it lead to a long wait for immigration clearance. Overall, it was a draining experience. But I was happy to be on land!
Retired UAL captain with 14 years as captain on B777. The crew did a marvelous job with the assistance of the approach controller. His information was concise and informative without extraneous info. I’ve been in a similar situation. It’s amazing how quickly the fuel level decreases when your aircraft suddenly is placed in this situation.
@@deepthinker999 If true. I have trouble believing a UAL captain would find praiseworthy the failure of the crew to address the problems with the plane many hours before.
Wow, it is extremely fortunate to have calm pilots who did not force a bad decision but instead were patient. Also, the first emergency ATC controller did an outstanding job, which would not have been as easy had he not understood the 777's systems so well and knew how to help the flight crew plan.
Salute 🫡 to the Air India Pilot(s)for remaining so calm and collected during a series of stressful events. So glad all survived in what could have been disaster.
this is why pilots get paid the big bucks. they are the hardest studying, practicing AND most professional of any job in the world -- because they have to be
...agree they did an OK job but what about reporting the gear horn warning, perhaps that did not sound again after the go around but that on top of everything else could have warranted getting trucks on standby. And wonder how air india handled all these repairs in Newark, would be a good follow up to hear more about what happened afterward....
@@wokewokerman5280 should retire the plane with all those failures. Seems like Air India is not doing proper maintenance on their planes or the FAA agencies are a little slack in India.
Have you ever had **that** many sensors fail during one flight? Had any more systems failed, I would have asked a flight attendant if there was signs of a fire onboard.
They went into their first approach knowing the equipment they had, knowing the minimums they could descend to, and knowing the weather they would most likely find. "superb performance" would have meant finding a alternate while in en route knowing their limitations (MDA) that had weather equal to (or greater than) that. Instead they were hopeful the weather would be better than predicted.
I have to disagree with your praise of this flight and how the two pilot crews (mis-)handled it. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for fifteen hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down (warnings were triggered when cruise was reached right after takeoff), and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, flying across the continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airline was flying on fumes. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, but geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail. Another commenter stated that every international flight has two alternate airport destinations pre-set prior to takeoff. Why didn't the FOUR pilots decide to query better landing conditions while they were flying across the entire USA? This aircrew was incompetent and the entire passenger load is lucky to be alive in light of their failure to plan for a known and expected difficult landing on the east coast.
@@patrickstarrfish4526 The reason they didn't land earlier whilst flying over the continental USA is because they were flying over the Atlantic Ocean and what use is looking up current weather conditions when you're 10+ hours out from your destination? Besides, they didn't know the ILS wasn't working until they tried to use it. Stated in the vid.
Even in such a critical situation, the captain was so confident and relaxed while communicating with the ATC. Absolutely one of the best case studies to look back at for the new aviation enthusiasts. Hats off to all the crew members!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@anadubar4819 WampusCat is a real 777 pilot, and posted this on GreenDotAviation, five months ago about this near-disaster. Be sure to read his final sentence: Well done and interesting video. However, plenty more to the story we’re not being told. As you might expect there are some high-time 777 guys out here to question these decisions and, today....well, that guy happens to be ME. First, I bet my life that triple ILS radio failure is 100% impossible on the 777. We have three ILS receivers and, they’re completely independent systems, after all. My money is on the all-encompassing and ever popular “operator error” in this case. Second, to critique your comments on the radio altimeter; It is absolutely NOT “more accurate” than a barometric altimeter, mainly because the two different types of altimeter measure two completely different (and only occasionally coincident) values. Also, at no point did I hear the crew mention they were in the throes of a real live Fuel Emergency. This is important for the controllers to know, and Kgs of fuel on board means absolutely zero to someone who is not a 777 pilot. This measure is presented in hours and minutes of duration aloft. The trusting passengers and crew survived this harrowing ordeal with licenses and lives intact despite the obvious lack of competence in the cockpit.
@@TheFailedmessiah why would indians want something to happen with their ai flight in new york so that their airline gets defamed ?? What kind of logic is this. It's like us govt themselves planned attack on 9/11 so that they can have an excuse to attack Iraq to steal their oil 🤭?
The crew explaining what was going on, to ATC in such a direct and clear way, really helped for brainstorming between the two. The brainstorming and working together on the issue was so vital to this ending right. Incredibly good airmanship.
Your praise of this aircrew is misguided. In my opinion, the flight crew was incompetent and should be disciplined. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@what6336 how dare you. I was one of the pilots on thst flight and we never lied. You have absolutely no idea what extreme pressure and stress we were under that day. It's all well criticizing from the comfort of your bedroom but you wouldn't have done any better under the circumstances if you had been piloting the plane, which you wouldn't have been because you're not a pilot
This plane had its instruments fail one right after another. The fact that the pilots were able to get the plane down in spite of all the severe issues speaks volumes to the professionalism and skill of the crew.
I have to absolutely disagree with your praise of this flight crew. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of a dozen hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, but geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 12+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@patrickstarrfish4526 Even though the flight was 12hrs long, that doesn't mean they weren't doing anything. They were most likely troubleshooting inorder to fix what was broken.
@@ecclestonsangel Your comment is non-sensical and unlikely to have basis in truth. The start of the video states the flight is 15 hours long. Also that the warning lights chimed when the plane reached cruising altitude. Four pilots on board, any single one of them should have known that the systems failures would not allow an ILS landing, and weather, visibility and fuel would be critical factors. They flew CLEAR ACROSS the entire continental USA without checking into alternative or better landing airports with decent weather till they were on final approach, running low on fuel. This crew was incompetent and did nothing to plan for an inevitable "issue at landing". Crew can not troubleshoot or repair system failures once in the air---it's not like Apollo 13 where they can run a system bypass!!!
@@patrickstarrfish4526 disclaimer, I am dope and flying 😎 is magic 🎩 to me. Question. Where these pilots endangered people on the ground? This lack of urgency and not reporting there Problems, could they have landed into buildings if they went to Pittsburgh..? Seemed like last minute 😕 cry for help after ignoring alarms
Honestly, this was so intense for me that I had to put the video on pause and then scroll down the comments to see if the aircraft landed or not. What a relief that it had!
Me too! I don’t know why I am watching the videos though. I’m so afraid to fly. I don’t even like cars anymore, but I still ride in one. My son wants to fly planes. I just wish he’d want to be a control tower worker instead.
I’ve had a few of these same situations, especially ones with pilot cockpit audio, when the pilots knew they were about to die. I too, have paused the video and scrolled in the comments to prepare myself for the rest of the video. It just shows how captivating these stories and this channel, are.
I believe this is the longest ATC-Crew exchange I have heard on this channel. Left no room for confusion or misunderstanding. Excellent job, everyone involved.
HUGE shout out to the pilots and the controllers. As a former Air Force aircraft avionics maintainer, I just couldn't believe how many critical system failures they were dealing with...unreal. 🙏🏽
Wow, the Air India crew were absolutely amazing. Everything was failing, and they were able to keep a super cool head, remaining super professional at all times. What excellent problem solving skills. Running out of fuel too, would tip anyone over the edge. Well done Air India crew. You're amazing.
I still don't understand why, with the failures of equipment, they didn't plan ahead earlier, to go to an airport where a visual approach was possible, and well within fuel range. They handled the dangerous situation really well once they got into it, but I don't see why they got that far that they were forced to do that.
@@bevan8477 i thought exactly the same. Its a bit like setting your house on fire and beeing praised for extinguising it before the whole building burned down. The failures appeared shortly after takeoff so they had plenty of time to plan ahead and look for an alternate place to land. They handeled this emergency very well, but as you already said, they should never have gottin into this situation in the first place.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio altimeters, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on GreenDotAviation commented that after landing the plane could not be fixed (economically) in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. Another commenter stated that every international flight has two alternate airport destinations pre-determined prior to takeoff. Why didn't the FOUR pilots decide to query better landing conditions at the alternate destinations while they were flying across the entire USA? This aircrew was incompetent and the entire passenger load is lucky to be alive in light of their failure to plan for a known and expected difficult landing on the east coast. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Bullshit!!! Totally unprofessional crew. What they were thinking about all flight long?! Didn’t they get METAR/TAF of KJFK? It is a serious issue. If they below minima they have to divert! Pilots must be fired.
These pilots need to be awarded with some sort of accommodation! No wonder they’re flying 777’s. He was cool calm and collected and never once showed any sign of panic or hesitation. Much respect for him and his whole crew for safely landing the plane and all 370 people on board.
This had me on the edge of my seat and I as an engineer and a IFR rated pilot thinking about all the possibilities. Gut feeling is the Radar Antenne as were damaged ( cracked or Ice seeping into the Antennea’s) . But one thing I remembered from an old WWII B17 pilot I met . I asked him how did he land a B17 after a mission in the UK in IFR situations. He said A&N.. they would fly to the destination airfield within 10NMI.. receive an audio signal either “A” or “N” in morse code . Depending on which signal they received first . From there you would turn left or right accordingly depending on the initial signal .. and if your approach was correct “A” and “N” would overlap creating a steady tone which meant you are 10 miles on line for the airfield .. runways were grass strips so it basically Pilot / compas/watch / std rate turns/ and a weak audio signal . That’s how they did it back in the day
An Indian ( like me) can probably sense a little bit of fear/panic in the voice of those pilots. However, what a great job they did. BRAVE brothers. Thanks for doing your best and safely landing. Well done to ALL the 4 guys. I am sure, the more pilots the safer and comforting it was for you lot. Well done again.
Thank you for pointing this out. I'm American and would not have picked up on that if you hadn't mentioned it. If not fear exactly then perhaps tenseness in their voices?
So glad to see the crew using the ground resources available to make a safe landing instead of just forcing the scheduled landing so not to disrupt status quo. So often in these videos things go wrong because the pilots don't want to make a fuss or perform a go-around when in reality they can take as much time and use as much help as they want.
Complete rubbish, of course. He’s thinking very carefully about his limited options. Sometimes you have to think quickly, but you never don’t think at all !
I guess the instrument team back on ground took his advice... They didn't think they'd get flack for the non-functional equipment. They didn't think that 370 lives would be possibly lost by their shitty work. They didn't think any inspectors would catch their inaccurate job, their faking sincerely having done their job well, or anything of the sort. They acted... Okay I put in my time, I got my paycheck, I've got to get home to wife & family, I just need to look slick and competent and smile alot...
I did a term of study in India. I think because English is used as the medium of instruction for higher education, Indians tend not to slur or mumble when speaking English.
During our climb after takeoff in a flight out of Portland some years back, I was on a right side aisle seat. The guy (complete stranger) across from me on the left side aisle seat was a talker. He had started during the flight attendants' safety presentation, telling me all about his job and his life story (I think), and hadn't stopped. All passengers suddenly heard a loud, even explosive sound. I looked around at the all the WTF faces, but he kept talking. The plane made an extreme left bank. Rather than across, it seemed I was looking down at him. He was still chattering away. When we were turned around and heading back the way we had come, the pilot came on and calmly told us "uh, folks, we've had a cockpit window blow out up here, so we're gonna sit this plane down and probably get another one. Make that definitely. Sorry for the inconvenience." The other passenger didn't skip a beat. Never acknowledged anything, Kept on with his story.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
WampusCat is a real 777 pilot, and posted this on GreenDotAviation, five months ago about this near-disaster. Be sure to read his final sentence: Well done and interesting video. However, plenty more to the story we’re not being told. As you might expect there are some high-time 777 guys out here to question these decisions and, today....well, that guy happens to be ME. First, I bet my life that triple ILS radio failure is 100% impossible on the 777. We have three ILS receivers and, they’re completely independent systems, after all. My money is on the all-encompassing and ever popular “operator error” in this case. Second, to critique your comments on the radio altimeter; It is absolutely NOT “more accurate” than a barometric altimeter, mainly because the two different types of altimeter measure two completely different (and only occasionally coincident) values. Also, at no point did I hear the crew mention they were in the throes of a real live Fuel Emergency. This is important for the controllers to know, and Kgs of fuel on board means absolutely zero to someone who is not a 777 pilot. This measure is presented in hours and minutes of duration aloft. The trusting passengers and crew survived this harrowing ordeal with licenses and lives intact despite the obvious lack of competence in the cockpit.
These pilots were incredible and especially the ground team in communication skills, even the pilot thanked him for the support in the air and this probably went a long way for them. Installing confidence in them that they're receiving help. Brilliant video.
They reminded me of the relaxed while highly competent attitude of Aer Lingus pilots. Although the airline refuse to advertise it, they have not had a crash or incident involving serious injury in more than 50 years.
Pilots were not incredible! They should have made prudent decisions prior to getting near New York knowing the problems they had and the weather situation. The whole thing from start to finish was not a good scene including what must have been shakey maintenance back in India.
@@vgrof2315 Right from the start, I wondered whether the aircraft left India with everything working correctly. However, it is possible for low voltage or a fuse blown in the electronics power supply to shut multiple circuits down, particularly in the way that they interact in navigation. Hopefully, they did not fly the plane back to India prior to repair. Any electrical fault can further compound, often with a risk of fire. They were lucky in the US that the terrain was fairly low (other than the buildings in New York city), so they were able to drop below the cloud base in relative safety. That is certainly not the case in most of India.
Makes me shudder to think what might have happened had they not had an alternative landing area so close. Hats off to everybody concerned in such a high pressure situation
Crazy that they executed a go around and when asked for the reason they just say unstable approach. The reality is they have dual radalt failure, no ILS, no TCAS, no auto land, no speed brake, no APU. That’s an emergency call for any other Captain.
That conversation would have taken a lot more time than a simple 'unstable approach', remember... AVIATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNICATE. Number one priority is to fly the airplane and run any relevant checklists, ATC can be informed later on.
@@jb-nn8sk are you a rated pilot? Early in my flight training I was taught “fly the airplane,” don’t focus on telling someone on the ground the details of your problem when there’s nothing they can do about it. @Will is right: aviate, navigate, communicate! It’s no misdemeanor, it was good piloting.
As a non-pilot, this is one of my favorite episodes. I don't think I've seen an example on any of FlightChannel's videos that offer this kind of superb crew management (with zero ego) as well as an ATC with immense experience and desire to be of service. What makes this video so compelling for me is the real audio of the conversation. It's one thing to merely read the words they're saying, but to hear the tone and timing of their conversation makes all the difference. They saved 370 lives that day in a plane that seemed to be in perpetual system failure. This Captain is the epitome of calm (and focus!) under massive presure. My hope for humanity is re-ignited a bit. Many thanks.
I’m always blown away by everyone in this industry… flight crews, ground crews. Amazing at what they do and not appreciated enough, by most. I, for one, consider them heroes as flying is my commute for 30+ years and I’ve logged almost 4 million miles.
There truly is no replacement for experience. I've been a chef for 30yrs. After yrs and yrs of practicing your craft , your comfort level increases exponentially to the point that potentially disastrous things can be taken in stride. When I think about some of the crazier hiccups that I've had to deal with over the yrs in the kitchen during service, it makes me smile to listen to this pilot remain completely level headed and professional. I've literally had cooks stab one another, a chef have a heart attack & drop dead during service, as well as an angry/intoxicated guest who crashed their 911 INTO the building (on purpose 😂) Great work by the flight crew and traffic controllers as well!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼👌🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
The flight crew was incompetent and should be disciplined. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
They just cleaned up the spilt milk... Instead of returning back around in India to face the incompetence of inspection crew or computer program crew or system management.. getting a fully workable aircraft, and having peace of mind for the full 15 hour flight,. THEY GAMBLED... THEY LIED, and that's not what heroism is about... Nope.. nope, nope
My absolute props to the flight crew, and multiple ATC's in this incident. Everyone was calm, clear, and professional and because of that everyone survived. To what I thought was going to be an air crash, seriously gave me chills when they touched down at Newark. Amazing job once again to everyone!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Likely manual brakes were used. Pilot states in the audio that one of the systems 'Autobrake' was coming up as non-operational. edit: And pilot states (in text) after the incident that there were no issues with the engines.
Been flying all my life based on being an airline brat, my dad worked for United Airlines for close to 40 years. I can confirm that things happen during flights and the crew avoids telling passengers to avoid panic and chaos. For instance, once when flying, an engine went out. All the passengers were told that there would be extra flying time (later arrival) due to heavy winds. But I had a seat next to a wing and knew better. I could see that the engine on that wing had shut down. I said nothing, figuring that the plane was flying just fine with the remaining two engines, one on the other wing, and the other at the tail. We made it just fine.
Holy moly - that radio communication was riveting. The calm, matter of fact demeanor of those pilots is astounding - they acted as a superbly trained team working AS a team, with no egos or chain of command barriers. Kudos to ATC as well for staying cool and ensuring all communications were clear. I want those chaps flying every aircraft I ever get on board!
I love people from India, I realized this in college. They are the most down-to-earth, honest, intelligent, nice people. This particular pilot was cool as a cucumber during this semi-emergency situation. Hello from sunny and warm St. Petersburg Florida.
@@jn8ive60 well, i have had plenty of bad experiences with people of certain races. that doesn't mean i go around judging an ENTIRE RACE of MILLIONS of people because of the acts of one individual...
@@kranberrysucks So evidently you wouldn't agree that every. single. Indian is "down-to-earth, honest, intelligent and nice" as Paula Zemeckis alleges, either? THAT was my point. Not that every Indian is as much of an A hole as the Indian doctor I had to deal with, but that it's ridiculous and bigoted to state or imply that a certain race, nationality, or ethnicity as a whole is inherently more "down-to-earth, honest, intelligent, and nice" than any other race, nationality, or ethnicity. By using the word "most" that is exactly what Paula Zemeckis was doing.
Well I came away absolutely in awe of those guys, not just professional and calm, but POLITE. That's pretty impressive when you consider they're responsible for 370 lives, they have zero control over the weather, a low cloud ceiling likely guarantees everyone dies including themselves and people on the ground, fuel limits your ability to divert and the number of attempts you get at the alternate you choose as well as limiting the choice of alternate by range... and yet... 'thank you for your service'... HUGE respect 🤗
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@JDAbelRN The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Oh gosh, this had me crying after the landing. CRM like this, esp with the helpful and kind ATC and the very honest, very clear pilot/s was so humbling, yet just made my heart soar. THIS kind of cooperation is why I watch these shows, why I care about flying and pilots. I love the pilot who admitted he was so glad to have human redundancy, so that in case he made any error with such unplanned responses, that one of his copilots would immediately help him by pointing it out. The relief in them all seems palpable to me, and I am grateful to all of them on behalf of the full complement of passengers! (Still crying). THANK YOU.
Me too, I was touched by the final words of exchange between the first ATC and the pilot and by the fact that all the pilots successfully worked together, pointing out mistakes, to avoid a catastrophy.
Many of the comments praising this aircrew are "fake news" fluffers from India. The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
I’m moved by the amazing CRM as well as the terrific teamwork between the pilots and all the ATC involved! Proud to be part of this industry and looking forward to always having stellar, inspiring and highly qualified coworkers like all those from AI who handled this issue in such a calm, professional and amazing way!!!
I was sweating as they made their approach. Thank God they landed safely... I actually thought they were going to crash as in some of the UA-cam videos I watch.
Air India pilots are one of the best trained pilots in the world . There have been two such close shaves in the Newark area and both times the pilots showed exceptional professionalism to keep everyone on board safe . Kudos
There were absolutely no terrifying moments. The controllers and pilots worked together to solve the issue...an extremely professional transaction to a complicated situation.
Soooo…you didn’t hear the pilot list all the flight instrument failures and ATC ask for number of people and fuel onboard the aircraft? Everybody was professional and kept their cool, but that absolutely was a terrifying experience. You think because they didn’t display fear they didn’t feel it? I was once on a flight that had to turn back to the airport and no fear was evident in the pilot’s voice when he told us this in a ‘no cause for alarm, nothing to see here, folks’ way. Rather, it was the subsequent behavior of the flight attendants that made us realize that we were in danger and people started getting agitated. Couldn’t get back to the airport fast enough then. All that to say, courage doesn’t mean absence of fear or danger. In fact, it’s the opposite.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Due to bad weather we are diverting to Newark airport. Sorry for the inconvenience. Enjoy the remainder of your flight with free beverages passed out by your flight attendants now." All good 🙂👍
I just watched one of Lt. Ken Rhee's tactical training videos and he said pretty much the same thing. There is no plan A, B, C or D in some situations. You just have to depend on your training, experience and the person next to you. Looks like these pilots did the same thing. They and their company should be proud. As the saying goes, "They did good.".
They really did, and sooo polite and calm - I was surprised to read that they didn't have any experience with that scenario even in a sim tho, you'd hope that everyone got to experience a low-viz non-precision approach at least once, but perhaps they don't do that because it's rare and each time is probably unique so the last thing they want is for pilots to just do what worked in the simulator... dunno but that was about the most satisfying thing I've watched in a LONG time :)
@@iconicshrubbery 😄Yeah, "They did good" or You did good" is just slang poking fun at American grammar. The correct way to say it would be "You did well" or "You did great".
@@iconicshrubbery No apologies needed. I should have used the correct grammar or at least made it clear that it is an "Americanism" so I wouldn't confuse anyone. That was my bad. So sorry about that.☺
All credit to these guys. After a long flight to be hit with a load of failures and then the low fuel situation must’ve been incredibly stressful. I hope Air India recognised their efforts.
Air India needs to be called on the carpet for letting this aircraft fly. It immediately should be grounded until all of the defects are fixed. An investigation also needs to urgently occur regarding their maintenance practices.
The teamwork 100% saved this aircraft. And the team included the ATC personnel. Clear communication, calm analysis of proposed solutions, then selecting and executing the safest available solution. One of the best exhibitions of professionalism I've ever seen.
I am so impressed on how calm they were. They did such an awesome job of getting their plane on the ground. The atc in that area is top notch and everyone working together is great to see.
Professional cheaters and cover-ups as well as smooth gamblers... Okay... Right.. Hard to imagine if they didn't pull it off.. everyone would be cursing them. They just get a #1 fools award from me. (And I hope I'm never on a plane they want to take such risks on.. Why didn't they be humble, gracious and compassionate enough to turn back, land in India, get a decent plane, report the systems failures, and improve the quality of not only the 15 hour flight but their beloved Air India company... 🤔 It's too mind boggling .. a game for the Indian pride, bravado, and daring to keep up with the dazzle razzle of sophisticated so-called civilization.. I would tell them in person... With all respect.
Top marks to the pilots for remaining calm in such a high-pressure situation. Being low on fuel with not many places to land, is probably one of the scariest things that can happen to a flight. Add on the fact that the weather was not playing nice, this could’ve easily ended in disaster. The ATC did an excellent job as well.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
I realize it’s an incredibly long flight, but surprisingly they had such little fuel to play with once reaching JFK. Regardless great job by everyone involved.
Fuel consumption and range is a highly complex formula, particularly as you near the maximum. If you took of on a journey such as this with an extra ton of fuel, by the time that you landed, you would have burnt most of it carrying the extra weight half way around the world. You also need to consider the maximum take off weight of the aircraft, along with the length of the departing runway. While the speed of the aircraft is decided on factors such as passenger expectations and number of flights per week, If an aircraft is burning slightly excess fuel when monitored throughout the flight, the pilots will save fuel by slowing down.
New Delhi to JFK uses up a lot of the fuel a 777 can have when on full Capacity. I flew recently from Dubai to Seattle on a packed 777 and we had to stay at like 28000-29000 feet for a few hours flight before we were light enough to climb to 34000 feet
@@emiratesaviation33 This is where it can easily become a catch 22 situation, because at FL28; due to higher air resistance, the fuel consumption per mile is higher than at FL34. The long climb may also have been taking the engine lube oil temperature near to it's maximum limit, making it necessary to level off for a while. As I explained in my reply earlier, calculating the best balance from all the factors is far from simple. People make the mistake of thinking that a larger fuel load would be an option, but this is not true. You reach a point where hauling the additional fuel would offset the increase in range. 40 years ago, nuclear power was seen as the future, but failure to produce enough energy to boil a kettle from a multi billion pound cold fusion reactor in 10 years has ruled the option out. Battery power is now seen a the most likely future. The hundreds of power stations that would be needed to generate the power is another story.😊
What a crew! Probably the most confidence inspiring communication I have heard between the ATC and the pilots despite the absolute stress they were experiencing. They need some awards for this work. That is not just "doing their job".
I have to absolutely disagree with your praise of this flight crew. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of a dozen hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, flying across the continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airline was flying on fumes. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, but geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination was known well in advance. Good grief, 12+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
How did this plane pass inspection, I don’t know for sure, but I would think there is something that checks the electronics on the plane before flight.
This is just amazing. I saw the videos of pilots with easier situations that ended in catastrophe but these pilots performed the best they could and successfully landed like warriors in the sky.
Yes all is well that ends well... I guess they spent 14 hours on psychological therapies, prayer, or watching TV, but to me, they needed to have been preparing by actually doing what they did in the last 3 or 4 minutes... Checking weather conditions at which airport... Basically that's what they were doing... As they obviously knew how they would have to land WHEREVER it was...
The words that come to mind are "Exceptional Flying!" I'm so impressed by the level of communication which was excellent teamwork between the Pilots and the ATC. The mannerism between them all was very polite. Serious problems, "Multiple System Failures, visibility due to weather conditions weren't good, no fuel left, the pilot stayed calm throughout the entire time, and landed the plane beautifully! This is the perfect video to be shown to the pilots training to fly for commercial airlines on what to do in a situation such as these pilots experienced! These are the kind of pilots I want whenever I have to fly! Love this quote "We Are Taught to Act and Not to Think in Situations Like This!" Thank you for this outstanding video, nice work! XO
Your praise of this aircrew is misguided, and I have to absolutely disagree they should even be licensed. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, before a 15 hour flight. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying clear the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD elsewhere has said that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@contrarian604 My god you are so full of yourself, your shit comes out of your mouth. The ILS failure was not known prior to the approach, and would have ILS NOT failed, ON approach, none of the above failures would have mattered the least bit. I gather you read the full report? You know about all the elaboration of the flight crew concerning the failures? You also know all checklist procedures and airline standard operating procedures with these failures involved? I figured so, you do not. You talk out of your arse, from behind your keyboard, being presented one piece of the puzzle, and from it judging the entiry story, which you do not know. Another classic armchair expert completely full of it. The pilot's reacted properly for a situation, which became clear to them only on approach. And, honestly, if your viewing and listening comprehension could not even piece together this most obvious bit, why should anyone even remotely listen to whatever jibberish you have to say?
Wow! I have tears in my eyes. So happy that they had such good communication and cooperation in the cockpit and kept calm and level headed. Amazing work from this crew and the control towers involved were so supportive and helpful too 👏👏👏 Everyone must have been holding their breath to see how this plane will get down and so relieved in the end. Bravo bravo! 👍👍👍
CRM at its best. Hats off to the crew that remained calm and focused during those difficult moments and to the ATC controller who did an amazing job trying to figure out the best way to get them out of that situation🙏🏻
FYI, WampusCat is a real 777 pilot, and posted this on GreenDotAviation five months ago about this near-disaster. Be sure to read his final sentence: Well done and interesting video. However, plenty more to the story we’re not being told. As you might expect there are some high-time 777 guys out here to question these decisions and, today....well, that guy happens to be ME. First, I bet my life that triple ILS radio failure is 100% impossible on the 777. We have three ILS receivers and, they’re completely independent systems, after all. My money is on the all-encompassing and ever popular “operator error” in this case. Second, to critique your comments on the radio altimeter; It is absolutely NOT “more accurate” than a barometric altimeter, mainly because the two different types of altimeter measure two completely different (and only occasionally coincident) values. Also, at no point did I hear the crew mention they were in the throes of a real live Fuel Emergency. This is important for the controllers to know, and Kgs of fuel on board means absolutely zero to someone who is not a 777 pilot. This measure is presented in hours and minutes of duration aloft. The trusting passengers and crew survived this harrowing ordeal with licenses and lives intact despite the obvious lack of competence in the cockpit.
Seems everything that could go wrong did besides losing the engines. Great job getting those people on the ground safely while keeping calm and composed. True heroes
I love how the Captain didn't panic, and he didn't say anything to ATC at first about instrument failure, and holy shit the MULTIPLE failures.....This is the dude I want in the cockpit...I wonder how many people got mad for not landing at JFK
@@terrondt There's always "that" person in the crowd, you just want to reach out and "touch" someone at that point. I have flown a lot lately and there are so many disrespectful people it's pathetic. Pilot's deserve so much more respect and credit than they get. I always acknowledge the Captain or FO (or both) if I have the rare chance to see them before taking off or thank them when disembarking ..ALWAYS
This flight crew handled things as a team working together to communicate and work through multiple failures and constraints. Great CRM...I think I would feel safe with them....Bravo...I hope that all the issues have been resolved for this plane and steps have been made to prevent such situations occurring on any others.
@@timothycarney7841 Then why not say that in the first place? What these type threads are full of are a closed club of elite who try to show how hip and cool they are by using aircraft terms that easily could be spelled out so the casual viewer could understand them.
@@Capecodham My apologies...thought it was a widely known acronym...Lesson learned...Thanks @burt2481...Specially considering sometimes I can't seem to get the most common acronyms myself...LOL!
Wow! Just wow! The calmness between the pilots and the ATC was certainly amazing. The ATC was so helpful and the pilots were just amazingly calm in a high stress situation. Great video!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
With all the system failures I was expecting the crew to report smelling smoke at any minute. I admire the professionalism of all involved and so happy the way it turned out. I’d like to know what the cause of all the problems was.
Funnily enough the passengers were unaware of this incident. I do salute Pilots and the people at ATC who carry the responsibility of so many lives and yet rarely fail. Props to the pilots on this one
I first started watching this channel for the crashes but it feels really good when they don't. The crew on this flight were amazing. Never once did the captain's voice waver.
I have to disagree with your praise of this flight crew. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of a dozen hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. In light of the system failures, weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, flying across the continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airline was flying on fumes. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, but geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 12+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@contrarian604 I am sure these pilots were ultimately carrying out orders from their employers, same as the ones now who are being coerced into taking the unnecessary, experimental and untested v@c c1ne. In both cases they want to keep flying and therefore sit on their hands and roll up their sleeves.
I hope the passengers gave a round of applause for the crew. Without the best trained people in the cockpit and at the 2 ground controls the loss is too much to contemplate. Thank you, gentlemen, one and all.
As a former Air Force guy, I was a ground controlled approach controller, among other duties, including Approach Control and VFR Tower. A good GCA approach where the pilot gets "talked down" dring the last 10 miles of the landing approach, including altitude and heading information, literally talking the plane down to the runway, even in near zero zero conditions, these guys could have used a good GCA. It was good enough for President Eisenhower's pilot when I talked them down to a safe near zero-zero landing in Newfoundland years ago.
Thank you for your service sir! Not being an airman myself but knowing that GCA is a technique, I was surprised they didn't attempt this, but of course, not everyone knows how to do it.
Former Army here. Once upon a time many years ago, there were 2 precision approaches, the ILS(instrument landing system)and the PAR(precision approach radar). When the navigation gear craps out, the ground controllers were an absolute lifesaver in bad weather with the PAR approach. We’d routinely train on the PAR to keep us and the controllers sharp, and to give us the confidence to follow directions. Nothing quite like putting your faith in that voice on the radio, then having runway lights magically appear at or above 200 feet below. Great respect for controllers. Now, if your comm’s radios were all out, other decisions had to be made. With all the electronics plurality in modern aircraft, it is rare that the conditions described here occur. I salute ATC and good maintenance.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@contrarian604 What you said makes the pilots sound stupid, which is not the case. I think they were aware of the intensity of the situation and thought it best to contact ground about it when they did. No need to raise a hue and cry at the first sign of trouble. I don't think any pilot would knowingly waste time if there is a serious failure on board. This isn't a school project.
@@AbhishekSanyalTGV WampusCat is a real 777 pilot, and posted this on GreenDotAviation, five months ago about this near-disaster. Be sure to read his final sentence: Well done and interesting video. However, plenty more to the story we’re not being told. As you might expect there are some high-time 777 guys out here to question these decisions and, today....well, that guy happens to be ME. First, I bet my life that triple ILS radio failure is 100% impossible on the 777. We have three ILS receivers and, they’re completely independent systems, after all. My money is on the all-encompassing and ever popular “operator error” in this case. Second, to critique your comments on the radio altimeter; It is absolutely NOT “more accurate” than a barometric altimeter, mainly because the two different types of altimeter measure two completely different (and only occasionally coincident) values. Also, at no point did I hear the crew mention they were in the throes of a real live Fuel Emergency. This is important for the controllers to know, and Kgs of fuel on board means absolutely zero to someone who is not a 777 pilot. This measure is presented in hours and minutes of duration aloft. The trusting passengers and crew survived this harrowing ordeal with licenses and lives intact despite the obvious lack of competence in the cockpit.
Not addressed, but that plane had at least 2 completely independent ILS systems. Hard to imagine both failing. These pilots did not handle this well at all as they approached New York knowing their problems and the weather. They were calm, yes, but they weren't using their heads. They were lucky to get out of the mess. Likely, also, they were suffering from shaky maintenance back in India.
Shaky maintenance... Um... With such intelligent pilots & captains, the computer teams must also be of that high quality insurmountable, inestimable cool and calm characteristics... But funny thing... There were too many errors to be comfortable putting them in any category but suspicious, irresponsible or other unmentionable words... They are part of the "incredible teamwork"... Aren't they... Or are they prone to malicious influences no one wants to investigate. You know "the emperor has no clothes on"....
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four-pilot crew do not deserve the praise they are receiving here in the comments. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
That was like your BEST video, ever. Everything about it... the story... the 'live' narrative... the beautiful pictures. Such a nice job and SUCH a happy ending.
Bravo, Captain and crew. I'm sure THEY probably think this was no big deal. But, for the average, non pilot, person...your calm and professionalism is to be commended and is very reassuring for the semi-nervous flyer. This is why I watch videos like this, especially before I'm supposed to fly...it gives me that extra dose of reassurance!! Well done Air India!
I've just started binging your videos and this is the 13th one, the 12th is about Sir Conin being able to bring his aircraft back after his cargo door shut down and I'm glad these 2 videos were selected as my 12th and 13th watch because honestly, 1-11 was all about death which instilled some fear of flying in me, but here my confidence is coming back because now we have excellent pilots, not those dillydallying and goofing around which resulted to loss of hundreds of lives
Listening to how calm the pilots were, I really didn’t realize just how serious of a situation this was considering all failures they had. That crew was amazing including the ATC.
The aircrew was negligent. They failed to advise the tower of their instrumentation failures - they dithered around and wasted fuel while being coy.
@@BobBlarneystone ok expert
@@BobBlarneystone that is because they were suicidal and wanted to take out the whole plane while they were going out. we need to eliminate pilots from the mix- they are too dangerous.
@@BobBlarneystone they did inform tower after a go around, and auto land has failed best they can do is enter a holding pattern for better weather or divert
Have you seen how transportation in India works in general? Relatively speaking, these pilots felt pretty safe the entire time. The captain barely even spilled his curry.
Makes you wonder how often stuff like this happens and you as a passenger have zero clue because most these pilots are amazing at what they do
It doesn’t happen often though lol. Cause you can guarantee this guy who runs this channel would have told us about it 🤷🏻♂️
Landing in Newark instead of JFK may have been a clue that something was awry.
Passengers of these jet liners get used to surprises.
And yes, they are. Amazing and brave.
Just as brave as any passenger. In fact passengers are more brave as they are on for the ride with no control while the pilots have that added security of being in control.
I'll be barbarically honest here. I expected this to end in tragedy, considering the weather conditions, the low fuel, and the alerts that were generated early on in the flight. This was some excellent airmanship. Fantastic CRM, at least from my perspective. Grateful that the ATC worked with the flight crew to ensure that they could get to safety. Lastly, I applaud the pilots for holding their composure during an extremely stressful situation. Hats off to everyone who worked to ensure that there would be a happy ending instead of a tragic one. 👏👏👏
Pilots making up for very questionable ground crew. That airplane shouldn't have took off in the first place...really crappy maintenance going on.
I was right there with ya. In my head saying "please let this end well, everyone is knocking it out of the park with how things should go"
@@luca7069 Yes it has been like that since Air India got Nationalized. Now it's Privatized again, back to the Parent Company "Tata Industries" last year and much needed changes are going on in Airlines right now.
... In The 21 st CentUrY...In This New Generation Era
There ShouLd be no AIr LinE Plane InciDents... AcCIDEnTs
HApPENInG ...But SO MAny .. Are StILL
@@seventhuser904 Deadly airline just like PIA. 🤣
I was on that flight. After the initial missed approach, the pilot announced that there has been some instrumentation failures. We were oblivious to the details (thankfully) but I was anxious from that point till the plane landed. I am glad it turned out well at the end. Grateful to the pilots and others involved!
Did the plane go dark (lose power) when they turned the engines off at Newark? How did people react to landing at a different airport? Thanks
@@visionist7 Yes, it did. We had to sit in the plane with no power for quite long (60-90 mins, IIRC). It became hot and dark inside. The little ones started crying and their parents lost patience and started yelling at the authorities. After thorough security checks, we were allowed to step out of the plane. The immigration desk was not prepared for the additional load and it lead to a long wait for immigration clearance. Overall, it was a draining experience. But I was happy to be on land!
@@arpanagrawal7075 thanks 😋 Yes I bet it was a big relief
I was expecting a fire 🔥 and explosion with this channel
I looked up Air India 101 and it was a crash in 1966, im not seeing any wikipedia about this flight.. was it really 101?
Retired UAL captain with 14 years as captain on B777. The crew did a marvelous job with the assistance of the approach controller. His information was concise and informative without extraneous info. I’ve been in a similar situation. It’s amazing how quickly the fuel level decreases when your aircraft suddenly is placed in this situation.
Thank You ! Best Qualified to judge the situation.
@@deepthinker999 If true. I have trouble believing a UAL captain would find praiseworthy the failure of the crew to address the problems with the plane many hours before.
I'm struggling with this one a bit. How come they didn't do an lpv approach?
15:03 "Thank you for your service"
Yeah, to all ATC, you are all our heroes. Thank you.
To all ATC?!! 🤔
@@rockshubham7556 Do you have any obligations? Please inform us.
@@janbanan7768 never
Wow, it is extremely fortunate to have calm pilots who did not force a bad decision but instead were patient. Also, the first emergency ATC controller did an outstanding job, which would not have been as easy had he not understood the 777's systems so well and knew how to help the flight crew plan.
Yes, they used what little time they had to work the problem, rather than acting rashly and without considering all of their options.
Yep, the American ATC acted like an adult for a change.
@Life Is Poetic be Stoic are you daft?!
@@arunmiscellanous it's a joke bro :D
@Life Is Poetic be Stoic 😄 .
Salute 🫡 to the Air India Pilot(s)for remaining so calm and collected during a series of stressful events. So glad all survived in what could have been disaster.
Also the ATC, he managed the situation very nicely aswell.
this is why pilots get paid the big bucks. they are the hardest studying, practicing AND most professional of any job in the world -- because they have to be
...agree they did an OK job but what about reporting the gear horn warning, perhaps that did not sound again after the go around but that on top of everything else could have warranted getting trucks on standby. And wonder how air india handled all these repairs in Newark, would be a good follow up to hear more about what happened afterward....
I guess that’s what 23 years of experience gives you- great result.
@@wokewokerman5280 should retire the plane with all those failures. Seems like Air India is not doing proper maintenance on their planes or the FAA agencies are a little slack in India.
WOW! With 17,000 hours of flight time myself I appreciate the superb performance of this crew.
Have you ever had **that** many sensors fail during one flight? Had any more systems failed, I would have asked a flight attendant if there was signs of a fire onboard.
Well said! Cheers from India 🍺 🍺
They went into their first approach knowing the equipment they had, knowing the minimums they could descend to, and knowing the weather they would most likely find. "superb performance" would have meant finding a alternate while in en route knowing their limitations (MDA) that had weather equal to (or greater than) that.
Instead they were hopeful the weather would be better than predicted.
17,000 hours is superb experience. But it's no guarantee you the pilot will survive a jet calamity
@@DBEdwards true, in aviation complacency can kill even a highly experienced pilot.
With with so much going against them, it’s so amazing how professional and calm the crew were. What a wonderful outcome!
I have to disagree with your praise of this flight and how the two pilot crews (mis-)handled it. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for fifteen hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down (warnings were triggered when cruise was reached right after takeoff), and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, flying across the continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airline was flying on fumes. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, but geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Another commenter stated that every international flight has two alternate airport destinations pre-set prior to takeoff. Why didn't the FOUR pilots decide to query better landing conditions while they were flying across the entire USA? This aircrew was incompetent and the entire passenger load is lucky to be alive in light of their failure to plan for a known and expected difficult landing on the east coast.
Thanks for the lecture
Why was that piece of shit able to fly? It should have been grounded until safe, that ridiculous.
@@patrickstarrfish4526 The reason they didn't land earlier whilst flying over the continental USA is because they were flying over the Atlantic Ocean and what use is looking up current weather conditions when you're 10+ hours out from your destination? Besides, they didn't know the ILS wasn't working until they tried to use it. Stated in the vid.
Sometimes the pilots are lucky. Sometimes they are not.
Even in such a critical situation, the captain was so confident and relaxed while communicating with the ATC. Absolutely one of the best case studies to look back at for the new aviation enthusiasts. Hats off to all the crew members!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@contrarian604 Finally someone with common sense. I totally agree.
@@anadubar4819 WampusCat is a real 777 pilot, and posted this on GreenDotAviation, five months ago about this near-disaster. Be sure to read his final sentence:
Well done and interesting video. However, plenty more to the story we’re not being told.
As you might expect there are some high-time 777 guys out here to question these decisions and, today....well, that guy happens to be ME.
First, I bet my life that triple ILS radio failure is 100% impossible on the 777. We have three ILS receivers and, they’re completely independent systems, after all. My money is on the all-encompassing and ever popular “operator error” in this case.
Second, to critique your comments on the radio altimeter; It is absolutely NOT “more accurate” than a barometric altimeter, mainly because the two different types of altimeter measure two completely different (and only occasionally coincident) values.
Also, at no point did I hear the crew mention they were in the throes of a real live Fuel Emergency. This is important for the controllers to know, and Kgs of fuel on board means absolutely zero to someone who is not a 777 pilot. This measure is presented in hours and minutes of duration aloft.
The trusting passengers and crew survived this harrowing ordeal with licenses and lives intact despite the obvious lack of competence in the cockpit.
I think the Indians knew the plane was fucked but attempted to make the journey anyway with so many instruments malfunctioning.
@@TheFailedmessiah why would indians want something to happen with their ai flight in new york so that their airline gets defamed ?? What kind of logic is this. It's like us govt themselves planned attack on 9/11 so that they can have an excuse to attack Iraq to steal their oil 🤭?
The crew explaining what was going on, to ATC in such a direct and clear way, really helped for brainstorming between the two.
The brainstorming and working together on the issue was so vital to this ending right. Incredibly good airmanship.
Yeah it was, these pilots were awesome.
@@BruceWayne-mb4hk they were incredible.
Your praise of this aircrew is misguided. In my opinion, the flight crew was incompetent and should be disciplined.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
They lied first should be complete investigation
Liars typical mentality
@@what6336 how dare you. I was one of the pilots on thst flight and we never lied. You have absolutely no idea what extreme pressure and stress we were under that day. It's all well criticizing from the comfort of your bedroom but you wouldn't have done any better under the circumstances if you had been piloting the plane, which you wouldn't have been because you're not a pilot
This plane had its instruments fail one right after another. The fact that the pilots were able to get the plane down in spite of all the severe issues speaks volumes to the professionalism and skill of the crew.
I have to absolutely disagree with your praise of this flight crew. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of a dozen hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, but geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 12+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@patrickstarrfish4526 Even though the flight was 12hrs long, that doesn't mean they weren't doing anything. They were most likely troubleshooting inorder to fix what was broken.
@@ecclestonsangel Your comment is non-sensical and unlikely to have basis in truth. The start of the video states the flight is 15 hours long. Also that the warning lights chimed when the plane reached cruising altitude. Four pilots on board, any single one of them should have known that the systems failures would not allow an ILS landing, and weather, visibility and fuel would be critical factors. They flew CLEAR ACROSS the entire continental USA without checking into alternative or better landing airports with decent weather till they were on final approach, running low on fuel. This crew was incompetent and did nothing to plan for an inevitable "issue at landing". Crew can not troubleshoot or repair system failures once in the air---it's not like Apollo 13 where they can run a system bypass!!!
@@patrickstarrfish4526 All of your comments have merit but the culprit here is the airline in my opinion.
@@patrickstarrfish4526 disclaimer, I am dope and flying 😎 is magic 🎩 to me. Question. Where these pilots endangered people on the ground? This lack of urgency and not reporting there Problems, could they have landed into buildings if they went to Pittsburgh..? Seemed like last minute 😕 cry for help after ignoring alarms
Wow, the professionalism and calmness between everyone involved was just amazing.
Honestly, this was so intense for me that I had to put the video on pause and then scroll down the comments to see if the aircraft landed or not. What a relief that it had!
Me too! I don’t know why I am watching the videos though. I’m so afraid to fly. I don’t even like cars anymore, but I still ride in one. My son wants to fly planes. I just wish he’d want to be a control tower worker instead.
Me too was terrified
I’ve had a few of these same situations, especially ones with pilot cockpit audio, when the pilots knew they were about to die. I too, have paused the video and scrolled in the comments to prepare myself for the rest of the video. It just shows how captivating these stories and this channel, are.
literally what i'm doing now - good to know I'm not alone! made it to 9:30 and was like "nope, i've gotta know"
I believe this is the longest ATC-Crew exchange I have heard on this channel. Left no room for confusion or misunderstanding. Excellent job, everyone involved.
I have the same impression.
HUGE shout out to the pilots and the controllers. As a former Air Force aircraft avionics maintainer, I just couldn't believe how many critical system failures they were dealing with...unreal. 🙏🏽
Wow, the Air India crew were absolutely amazing. Everything was failing, and they were able to keep a super cool head, remaining super professional at all times. What excellent problem solving skills. Running out of fuel too, would tip anyone over the edge. Well done Air India crew. You're amazing.
I still don't understand why, with the failures of equipment, they didn't plan ahead earlier, to go to an airport where a visual approach was possible, and well within fuel range. They handled the dangerous situation really well once they got into it, but I don't see why they got that far that they were forced to do that.
@@bevan8477 That is a good point. They were probably reprimanded for that in any report done about the incident.
@@bevan8477 i thought exactly the same. Its a bit like setting your house on fire and beeing praised for extinguising it before the whole building burned down. The failures appeared shortly after takeoff so they had plenty of time to plan ahead and look for an alternate place to land. They handeled this emergency very well, but as you already said, they should never have gottin into this situation in the first place.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio altimeters, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on GreenDotAviation commented that after landing the plane could not be fixed (economically) in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
Another commenter stated that every international flight has two alternate airport destinations pre-determined prior to takeoff. Why didn't the FOUR pilots decide to query better landing conditions at the alternate destinations while they were flying across the entire USA? This aircrew was incompetent and the entire passenger load is lucky to be alive in light of their failure to plan for a known and expected difficult landing on the east coast.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Bullshit!!!
Totally unprofessional crew. What they were thinking about all flight long?! Didn’t they get METAR/TAF of KJFK?
It is a serious issue. If they below minima they have to divert!
Pilots must be fired.
These pilots need to be awarded with some sort of accommodation! No wonder they’re flying 777’s. He was cool calm and collected and never once showed any sign of panic or hesitation. Much respect for him and his whole crew for safely landing the plane and all 370 people on board.
This had me on the edge of my seat and I as an engineer and a IFR rated pilot thinking about all the possibilities. Gut feeling is the Radar Antenne as were damaged ( cracked or Ice seeping into the Antennea’s) .
But one thing I remembered from an old WWII B17 pilot I met . I asked him how did he land a B17 after a mission in the UK in IFR situations. He said A&N.. they would fly to the destination airfield within 10NMI.. receive an audio signal either “A” or “N” in morse code . Depending on which signal they received first . From there you would turn left or right accordingly depending on the initial signal .. and if your approach was correct “A” and “N” would overlap creating a steady tone which meant you are 10 miles on line for the airfield .. runways were grass strips so it basically Pilot / compas/watch / std rate turns/ and a weak audio signal . That’s how they did it back in the day
WWII pilots had to be the balliest people ever.
An Indian ( like me) can probably sense a little bit of fear/panic in the voice of those pilots. However, what a great job they did. BRAVE brothers. Thanks for doing your best and safely landing. Well done to ALL the 4 guys. I am sure, the more pilots the safer and comforting it was for you lot. Well done again.
Thank you for pointing this out. I'm American and would not have picked up on that if you hadn't mentioned it. If not fear exactly then perhaps tenseness in their voices?
@@intrstrnr I guess it's normal to get a bit tense we are human after all.
@@intrstrnr Yes, some tension, mainly concern. Not really fear / panic. As expected when performing in a crunch situation.
@@gireeshgprasad7589 ah yes, thanks again. And truly an amazing performance. Job well done!
@@intrstrnr No problem. :-)
Indeed, job well done!
So glad to see the crew using the ground resources available to make a safe landing instead of just forcing the scheduled landing so not to disrupt status quo. So often in these videos things go wrong because the pilots don't want to make a fuss or perform a go-around when in reality they can take as much time and use as much help as they want.
So true
Not Always. The airlines are relentless in cutting costs.
@@deepthinker999 It's the pilot's decision, always.
"We are taught to act and not think in situations like this." - Captain Palia
Avoiding paralysis by analysis.
That's what Maverick said, "Don't think."
Yes, I believe paralysis by analysis contributed to the Swissair 111 crash off of Nova Scotia.
Complete rubbish, of course. He’s thinking very carefully about his limited options. Sometimes you have to think quickly, but you never don’t think at all !
I guess the instrument team back on ground took his advice... They didn't think they'd get flack for the non-functional equipment. They didn't think that 370 lives would be possibly lost by their shitty work. They didn't think any inspectors would catch their inaccurate job, their faking sincerely having done their job well, or anything of the sort. They acted... Okay I put in my time, I got my paycheck, I've got to get home to wife & family, I just need to look slick and competent and smile alot...
The way these pilots maintain clear English during this situation is crazy. Just another element that's adds to the brain's workload
I did a term of study in India. I think because English is used as the medium of instruction for higher education, Indians tend not to slur or mumble when speaking English.
During our climb after takeoff in a flight out of Portland some years back, I was on a right side aisle seat. The guy (complete stranger) across from me on the left side aisle seat was a talker. He had started during the flight attendants' safety presentation, telling me all about his job and his life story (I think), and hadn't stopped. All passengers suddenly heard a loud, even explosive sound. I looked around at the all the WTF faces, but he kept talking. The plane made an extreme left bank. Rather than across, it seemed I was looking down at him. He was still chattering away. When we were turned around and heading back the way we had come, the pilot came on and calmly told us "uh, folks, we've had a cockpit window blow out up here, so we're gonna sit this plane down and probably get another one. Make that definitely. Sorry for the inconvenience." The other passenger didn't skip a beat. Never acknowledged anything, Kept on with his story.
Cool story bro
If only we could all be so… cool about our surroundings 😁
Airline and flight number
Oh no, we are going to die?
So anyways...
He really wanted to tell that story!
Or it was his way to cope with that situation!?
The human mind, especially when working as a team with others, is the most powerful problem solving tool on the planet. Incredible.
Yeah if the humans don't lie
Cringe.
Reminds me of what the NASA folks had to do to save those astronauts on Apollo 13.
@@bloodclaat you must be an introvert lmao. Probably look down on the floor while talking to people if you find that cringe
@@honoramd6176 agree
Cool, calm, and collected. Outstanding pilots.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@contrarian604 Totally agree.
WampusCat is a real 777 pilot, and posted this on GreenDotAviation, five months ago about this near-disaster. Be sure to read his final sentence:
Well done and interesting video. However, plenty more to the story we’re not being told.
As you might expect there are some high-time 777 guys out here to question these decisions and, today....well, that guy happens to be ME.
First, I bet my life that triple ILS radio failure is 100% impossible on the 777. We have three ILS receivers and, they’re completely independent systems, after all. My money is on the all-encompassing and ever popular “operator error” in this case.
Second, to critique your comments on the radio altimeter; It is absolutely NOT “more accurate” than a barometric altimeter, mainly because the two different types of altimeter measure two completely different (and only occasionally coincident) values.
Also, at no point did I hear the crew mention they were in the throes of a real live Fuel Emergency. This is important for the controllers to know, and Kgs of fuel on board means absolutely zero to someone who is not a 777 pilot. This measure is presented in hours and minutes of duration aloft.
The trusting passengers and crew survived this harrowing ordeal with licenses and lives intact despite the obvious lack of competence in the cockpit.
These pilots were incredible and especially the ground team in communication skills, even the pilot thanked him for the support in the air and this probably went a long way for them. Installing confidence in them that they're receiving help. Brilliant video.
They reminded me of the relaxed while highly competent attitude of Aer Lingus pilots. Although the airline refuse to advertise it, they have not had a crash or incident involving serious injury in more than 50 years.
@@wilsjane An Air India 747 went down off the coast of Ireland in the mid 80s
Pilots were not incredible! They should have made prudent decisions prior to getting near New York knowing the problems they had and the weather situation. The whole thing from start to finish was not a good scene including what must have been shakey maintenance back in India.
@@vgrof2315 Right from the start, I wondered whether the aircraft left India with everything working correctly. However, it is possible for low voltage or a fuse blown in the electronics power supply to shut multiple circuits down, particularly in the way that they interact in navigation.
Hopefully, they did not fly the plane back to India prior to repair. Any electrical fault can further compound, often with a risk of fire.
They were lucky in the US that the terrain was fairly low (other than the buildings in New York city), so they were able to drop below the cloud base in relative safety. That is certainly not the case in most of India.
@@j700jam4 wasn't that blown up by jihadis ?
To all the pilots on this spread thank you for your service I love you all I love being a passenger on the plane
I'm a pilot in training and these are sometimes terrifying to watch but I learn so much
Makes me shudder to think what might have happened had they not had an alternative landing area so close. Hats off to everybody concerned in such a high pressure situation
Crazy that they executed a go around and when asked for the reason they just say unstable approach. The reality is they have dual radalt failure, no ILS, no TCAS, no auto land, no speed brake, no APU. That’s an emergency call for any other Captain.
Easier to say unstable approach and be done with it rather trying to explain all the failures at that juncture.
Obviously, ATC declared an emergency from their end. Asking souls on board and fuel is a kinda sorta tell
That conversation would have taken a lot more time than a simple 'unstable approach', remember... AVIATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNICATE. Number one priority is to fly the airplane and run any relevant checklists, ATC can be informed later on.
@@southcoast9617 Incorrect. ATC had to be informed of multiple instrument failure upon approach. This constitutes a serious misdemeanor
@@jb-nn8sk are you a rated pilot? Early in my flight training I was taught “fly the airplane,” don’t focus on telling someone on the ground the details of your problem when there’s nothing they can do about it. @Will is right: aviate, navigate, communicate! It’s no misdemeanor, it was good piloting.
As a non-pilot, this is one of my favorite episodes. I don't think I've seen an example on any of FlightChannel's videos that offer this kind of superb crew management (with zero ego) as well as an ATC with immense experience and desire to be of service. What makes this video so compelling for me is the real audio of the conversation. It's one thing to merely read the words they're saying, but to hear the tone and timing of their conversation makes all the difference. They saved 370 lives that day in a plane that seemed to be in perpetual system failure. This Captain is the epitome of calm (and focus!) under massive presure. My hope for humanity is re-ignited a bit. Many thanks.
With a lesser crew this could have been a complete disaster.
I’m always blown away by everyone in this industry… flight crews, ground crews. Amazing at what they do and not appreciated enough, by most. I, for one, consider them heroes as flying is my commute for 30+ years and I’ve logged almost 4 million miles.
There truly is no replacement for experience.
I've been a chef for 30yrs. After yrs and yrs of practicing your craft , your comfort level increases exponentially to the point that potentially disastrous things can be taken in stride. When I think about some of the crazier hiccups that I've had to deal with over the yrs in the kitchen during service, it makes me smile to listen to this pilot remain completely level headed and professional.
I've literally had cooks stab one another, a chef have a heart attack & drop dead during service, as well as an angry/intoxicated guest who crashed their 911 INTO the building (on purpose 😂)
Great work by the flight crew and traffic controllers as well!!!
🙏🏼🙏🏼👌🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
What a bunch of legends. To stay that calm in that sort of situation is a credit to them.
The flight crew was incompetent and should be disciplined. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Its a fuck up made by the crew.
They just cleaned up the spilt milk... Instead of returning back around in India to face the incompetence of inspection crew or computer program crew or system management.. getting a fully workable aircraft, and having peace of mind for the full 15 hour flight,. THEY GAMBLED... THEY LIED, and that's not what heroism is about... Nope.. nope, nope
Heroes are a sign of a much deeper problem that needs to be addressed.
My absolute props to the flight crew, and multiple ATC's in this incident. Everyone was calm, clear, and professional and because of that everyone survived. To what I thought was going to be an air crash, seriously gave me chills when they touched down at Newark. Amazing job once again to everyone!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Given all the systems failures I was wondering, as the main gear touched down, if their brakes and thrust reversers would actually work.
Likely manual brakes were used. Pilot states in the audio that one of the systems 'Autobrake' was coming up as non-operational. edit: And pilot states (in text) after the incident that there were no issues with the engines.
@@Ayeshteni probably wouldn’t want to trust any automated systems in that situation. They all did a great job.
Lol
Been flying all my life based on being an airline brat, my dad worked for United Airlines for close to 40 years. I can confirm that things happen during flights and the crew avoids telling passengers to avoid panic and chaos. For instance, once when flying, an engine went out. All the passengers were told that there would be extra flying time (later arrival) due to heavy winds. But I had a seat next to a wing and knew better. I could see that the engine on that wing had shut down. I said nothing, figuring that the plane was flying just fine with the remaining two engines, one on the other wing, and the other at the tail. We made it just fine.
"We made it just fine" uuf, I'm glad, I thought you died.
The calmness of the captain is amazing probably why it went well
Holy moly - that radio communication was riveting. The calm, matter of fact demeanor of those pilots is astounding - they acted as a superbly trained team working AS a team, with no egos or chain of command barriers. Kudos to ATC as well for staying cool and ensuring all communications were clear. I want those chaps flying every aircraft I ever get on board!
I love people from India, I realized this in college. They are the most down-to-earth, honest, intelligent, nice people. This particular pilot was cool as a cucumber during this semi-emergency situation. Hello from sunny and warm St. Petersburg Florida.
An Indian doctor rudely screamed at me just because I was trying to give him a message. And I hate warm sunny weather so goodbye.
@Evie Mathews 😈
@@jn8ive60 well, i have had plenty of bad experiences with people of certain races. that doesn't mean i go around judging an ENTIRE RACE of MILLIONS of people because of the acts of one individual...
@@kranberrysucks 😈
@@kranberrysucks So evidently you wouldn't agree that every. single. Indian is "down-to-earth, honest, intelligent and nice" as Paula Zemeckis alleges, either? THAT was my point. Not that every Indian is as much of an A hole as the Indian doctor I had to deal with, but that it's ridiculous and bigoted to state or imply that a certain race, nationality, or ethnicity as a whole is inherently more "down-to-earth, honest, intelligent, and nice" than any other race, nationality, or ethnicity. By using the word "most" that is exactly what Paula Zemeckis was doing.
Well I came away absolutely in awe of those guys, not just professional and calm, but POLITE. That's pretty impressive when you consider they're responsible for 370 lives, they have zero control over the weather, a low cloud ceiling likely guarantees everyone dies including themselves and people on the ground, fuel limits your ability to divert and the number of attempts you get at the alternate you choose as well as limiting the choice of alternate by range... and yet... 'thank you for your service'... HUGE respect 🤗
That's why they are paid the big bucks, true professionals pilots and ATC.
True
Then it's "You're welcome, I wish there was more I could do for you." Humility at it's finest!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@JDAbelRN The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Non pilots do not realize how critical this was In These weather conditions. Great job!
Oh gosh, this had me crying after the landing. CRM like this, esp with the helpful and kind ATC and the very honest, very clear pilot/s was so humbling, yet just made my heart soar. THIS kind of cooperation is why I watch these shows, why I care about flying and pilots. I love the pilot who admitted he was so glad to have human redundancy, so that in case he made any error with such unplanned responses, that one of his copilots would immediately help him by pointing it out. The relief in them all seems palpable to me, and I am grateful to all of them on behalf of the full complement of passengers! (Still crying). THANK YOU.
U cried lmao?
Me too, I was touched by the final words of exchange between the first ATC and the pilot and by the fact that all the pilots successfully worked together, pointing out mistakes, to avoid a catastrophy.
ATC continuous weather report was incredible which helped the flight to land just spot on. Great Pilots and ATC🎉🎉❤❤
No emergency declared, drip-fed the information gradually, no fuel or souls on board... just incredible
These pilots and ATC controllers are heroes 🥺
Air traffic controller controllers?
Wow! Those pilots were the epitome of how to act in stressful situations. Bravo to that whole team!
Many of the comments praising this aircrew are "fake news" fluffers from India. The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
I’m moved by the amazing CRM as well as the terrific teamwork between the pilots and all the ATC involved! Proud to be part of this industry and looking forward to always having stellar, inspiring and highly qualified coworkers like all those from AI who handled this issue in such a calm, professional and amazing way!!!
I love how kind and professional everyone was. Really beautiful to see people come together like that!
The more I watch these the more respect I have for tower control crews, pretty amazing people.
now THAT is why we have CRM in the cockpit and THAT is CRM functioning to perfection! Bravo to the flight crew and ATCs for such superb co-operation.
I was sweating as they made their approach. Thank God they landed safely... I actually thought they were going to crash as in some of the UA-cam videos I watch.
If only
Air India pilots are one of the best trained pilots in the world . There have been two such close shaves in the Newark area and both times the pilots showed exceptional professionalism to keep everyone on board safe . Kudos
There were absolutely no terrifying moments. The controllers and pilots worked together to solve the issue...an extremely professional transaction to a complicated situation.
Soooo…you didn’t hear the pilot list all the flight instrument failures and ATC ask for number of people and fuel onboard the aircraft? Everybody was professional and kept their cool, but that absolutely was a terrifying experience. You think because they didn’t display fear they didn’t feel it? I was once on a flight that had to turn back to the airport and no fear was evident in the pilot’s voice when he told us this in a ‘no cause for alarm, nothing to see here, folks’ way. Rather, it was the subsequent behavior of the flight attendants that made us realize that we were in danger and people started getting agitated. Couldn’t get back to the airport fast enough then. All that to say, courage doesn’t mean absence of fear or danger. In fact, it’s the opposite.
I sure got terrified for the plane from this video!
lol easy to say on UA-cam, not so easy if actually there.
that was a good one, and to think, none of the passengers, or even flight crew outside the cabin were aware of any issues, fantastic
Well, until they stepped outside the airport and realized they were in Newark, but other than that, yeah.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Due to bad weather we are diverting to Newark airport. Sorry for the inconvenience. Enjoy the remainder of your flight with free beverages passed out by your flight attendants now."
All good 🙂👍
@@tabby73 safe landing in Newark or blind landing in New York is pretty much a coin toss for me.
@@tabby73 that is not the same as the passengers knowing tons of vital plane electronics had failed and that they were also low on fuel.....try again
@@wbmstr24 that was exactly my point .... that they didn't know
I just watched one of Lt. Ken Rhee's tactical training videos and he said pretty much the same thing. There is no plan A, B, C or D in some situations. You just have to depend on your training, experience and the person next to you. Looks like these pilots did the same thing. They and their company should be proud. As the saying goes, "They did good.".
They really did, and sooo polite and calm - I was surprised to read that they didn't have any experience with that scenario even in a sim tho, you'd hope that everyone got to experience a low-viz non-precision approach at least once, but perhaps they don't do that because it's rare and each time is probably unique so the last thing they want is for pilots to just do what worked in the simulator... dunno but that was about the most satisfying thing I've watched in a LONG time :)
In England and India we would say, "They did well".
@@iconicshrubbery 😄Yeah, "They did good" or You did good" is just slang poking fun at American grammar. The correct way to say it would be "You did well" or "You did great".
@@cassiereroni 😯sorry, I missed the irony.
@@iconicshrubbery No apologies needed. I should have used the correct grammar or at least made it clear that it is an "Americanism" so I wouldn't confuse anyone. That was my bad. So sorry about that.☺
All credit to these guys. After a long flight to be hit with a load of failures and then the low fuel situation must’ve been incredibly stressful. I hope Air India recognised their efforts.
They were hit with these failures at the BEGINNING of the flight and did nothing to prepare for eventual problems.
Air India needs to be called on the carpet for letting this aircraft fly. It immediately should be grounded until all of the defects are fixed. An investigation also needs to urgently occur regarding their maintenance practices.
I like how the JFK ATC guy says "You are welcome.. I wish there was more I could do".
The teamwork 100% saved this aircraft. And the team included the ATC personnel. Clear communication, calm analysis of proposed solutions, then selecting and executing the safest available solution. One of the best exhibitions of professionalism I've ever seen.
I am so impressed on how calm they were. They did such an awesome job of getting their plane on the ground. The atc in that area is top notch and everyone working together is great to see.
Ice cold professional airmanship, bravo Air India!
Professional cheaters and cover-ups as well as smooth gamblers... Okay... Right..
Hard to imagine if they didn't pull it off.. everyone would be cursing them. They just get a #1 fools award from me. (And I hope I'm never on a plane they want to take such risks on..
Why didn't they be humble, gracious and compassionate enough to turn back, land in India, get a decent plane, report the systems failures, and improve the quality of not only the 15 hour flight but their beloved Air India company... 🤔 It's too mind boggling .. a game for the Indian pride, bravado, and daring to keep up with the dazzle razzle of sophisticated so-called civilization..
I would tell them in person... With all respect.
Top marks to the pilots for remaining calm in such a high-pressure situation. Being low on fuel with not many places to land, is probably one of the scariest things that can happen to a flight. Add on the fact that the weather was not playing nice, this could’ve easily ended in disaster. The ATC did an excellent job as well.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
Got goosebumps all over the minute the plan landed amazing job with all who were involved with the safe landing 🙏🏾
Wow, how calm was he? Sounded so calculating and confident, just doing he's job.
Terrific video, as always. Fantastic work by the pilots and the ATC for helping him with what he could.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
I realize it’s an incredibly long flight, but surprisingly they had such little fuel to play with once reaching JFK. Regardless great job by everyone involved.
They probably used up a lot of fuel just doing low-level circuits over JFK.
Fuel consumption and range is a highly complex formula, particularly as you near the maximum. If you took of on a journey such as this with an extra ton of fuel, by the time that you landed, you would have burnt most of it carrying the extra weight half way around the world.
You also need to consider the maximum take off weight of the aircraft, along with the length of the departing runway.
While the speed of the aircraft is decided on factors such as passenger expectations and number of flights per week, If an aircraft is burning slightly excess fuel when monitored throughout the flight, the pilots will save fuel by slowing down.
@@RonSeymour1 yeah doing low altitude circuits kills fuel economy on those big jets. Jet engines are at their most efficient up high at cruise speed.
New Delhi to JFK uses up a lot of the fuel a 777 can have when on full Capacity. I flew recently from Dubai to Seattle on a packed 777 and we had to stay at like 28000-29000 feet for a few hours flight before we were light enough to climb to 34000 feet
@@emiratesaviation33 This is where it can easily become a catch 22 situation, because at FL28; due to higher air resistance, the fuel consumption per mile is higher than at FL34. The long climb may also have been taking the engine lube oil temperature near to it's maximum limit, making it necessary to level off for a while.
As I explained in my reply earlier, calculating the best balance from all the factors is far from simple.
People make the mistake of thinking that a larger fuel load would be an option, but this is not true. You reach a point where hauling the additional fuel would offset the increase in range.
40 years ago, nuclear power was seen as the future, but failure to produce enough energy to boil a kettle from a multi billion pound cold fusion reactor in 10 years has ruled the option out.
Battery power is now seen a the most likely future. The hundreds of power stations that would be needed to generate the power is another story.😊
What a crew! Probably the most confidence inspiring communication I have heard between the ATC and the pilots despite the absolute stress they were experiencing. They need some awards for this work. That is not just "doing their job".
I have to absolutely disagree with your praise of this flight crew. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of a dozen hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, flying across the continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airline was flying on fumes. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, but geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination was known well in advance. Good grief, 12+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
How did this plane pass inspection, I don’t know for sure, but I would think there is something that checks the electronics on the plane before flight.
This is just amazing. I saw the videos of pilots with easier situations that ended in catastrophe but these pilots performed the best they could and successfully landed like warriors in the sky.
Yes all is well that ends well...
I guess they spent 14 hours on psychological therapies, prayer, or watching TV, but to me, they needed to have been preparing by actually doing what they did in the last 3 or 4 minutes... Checking weather conditions at which airport... Basically that's what they were doing... As they obviously knew how they would have to land WHEREVER it was...
The words that come to mind are "Exceptional Flying!"
I'm so impressed by the level of communication which was excellent teamwork between the Pilots and the ATC.
The mannerism between them all was very polite.
Serious problems, "Multiple System Failures, visibility due to weather conditions weren't good, no fuel left, the pilot stayed calm throughout the entire time, and landed the plane beautifully!
This is the perfect video to be shown to the pilots training to fly for commercial airlines on what to do in a situation such as these pilots experienced!
These are the kind of pilots I want whenever I have to fly!
Love this quote "We Are Taught to Act and Not to Think in Situations Like This!"
Thank you for this outstanding video, nice work! XO
True
Your praise of this aircrew is misguided, and I have to absolutely disagree they should even be licensed. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, before a 15 hour flight. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying clear the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD elsewhere has said that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@contrarian604 My god you are so full of yourself, your shit comes out of your mouth. The ILS failure was not known prior to the approach, and would have ILS NOT failed, ON approach, none of the above failures would have mattered the least bit. I gather you read the full report? You know about all the elaboration of the flight crew concerning the failures? You also know all checklist procedures and airline standard operating procedures with these failures involved? I figured so, you do not. You talk out of your arse, from behind your keyboard, being presented one piece of the puzzle, and from it judging the entiry story, which you do not know. Another classic armchair expert completely full of it.
The pilot's reacted properly for a situation, which became clear to them only on approach. And, honestly, if your viewing and listening comprehension could not even piece together this most obvious bit, why should anyone even remotely listen to whatever jibberish you have to say?
Yes! where are you from dear?
Wow! I have tears in my eyes. So happy that they had such good communication and cooperation in the cockpit and kept calm and level headed. Amazing work from this crew and the control towers involved were so supportive and helpful too 👏👏👏 Everyone must have been holding their breath to see how this plane will get down and so relieved in the end. Bravo bravo! 👍👍👍
CRM at its best. Hats off to the crew that remained calm and focused during those difficult moments and to the ATC controller who did an amazing job trying to figure out the best way to get them out of that situation🙏🏻
When they touched down I literally stood up and shouted BRAVO! Those pilots are the best of the best.
FYI, WampusCat is a real 777 pilot, and posted this on GreenDotAviation five months ago about this near-disaster. Be sure to read his final sentence:
Well done and interesting video. However, plenty more to the story we’re not being told.
As you might expect there are some high-time 777 guys out here to question these decisions and, today....well, that guy happens to be ME.
First, I bet my life that triple ILS radio failure is 100% impossible on the 777. We have three ILS receivers and, they’re completely independent systems, after all. My money is on the all-encompassing and ever popular “operator error” in this case.
Second, to critique your comments on the radio altimeter; It is absolutely NOT “more accurate” than a barometric altimeter, mainly because the two different types of altimeter measure two completely different (and only occasionally coincident) values.
Also, at no point did I hear the crew mention they were in the throes of a real live Fuel Emergency. This is important for the controllers to know, and Kgs of fuel on board means absolutely zero to someone who is not a 777 pilot. This measure is presented in hours and minutes of duration aloft.
The trusting passengers and crew survived this harrowing ordeal with licenses and lives intact despite the obvious lack of competence in the cockpit.
Seems everything that could go wrong did besides losing the engines. Great job getting those people on the ground safely while keeping calm and composed. True heroes
I love how the Captain didn't panic, and he didn't say anything to ATC at first about instrument failure, and holy shit the MULTIPLE failures.....This is the dude I want in the cockpit...I wonder how many people got mad for not landing at JFK
We pilots are trained to stay calm in all situations. Those that can't stay calm, get weeded out if they don't make adjustments in that area.
Well given the circumstances they are better off being mad/inconvenienced and alive
@@edwardrichardson5567 I hope to fly with you someday Captain!!
@@terrondt There's always "that" person in the crowd, you just want to reach out and "touch" someone at that point. I have flown a lot lately and there are so many disrespectful people it's pathetic. Pilot's deserve so much more respect and credit than they get. I always acknowledge the Captain or FO (or both) if I have the rare chance to see them before taking off or thank them when disembarking ..ALWAYS
He should have explained the situation to ATC from the start and not just said "unstable approach".
I like the comms of the indian pilot. He is collected and focussed and also displays a great deal of know-how. Top performance. Very professional.
This flight crew handled things as a team working together to communicate and work through multiple failures and constraints. Great CRM...I think I would feel safe with them....Bravo...I hope that all the issues have been resolved for this plane and steps have been made to prevent such situations occurring on any others.
CRM?
@@Capecodham Crew Resource Management....believe that is what it's called ✅️
@@timothycarney7841 Then why not say that in the first place?
What these type threads are full of are a closed club of elite who try to show how hip and cool they are by using aircraft terms
that easily could be spelled out so the casual viewer could understand them.
@@Capecodham My apologies...thought it was a widely known acronym...Lesson learned...Thanks @burt2481...Specially considering sometimes I can't seem to get the most common acronyms myself...LOL!
Thank you for showing class, most responses I get are those implying how stupid I am and how smart they are.
Not a pilot here, but man, the workers who maintained that plane put those pilots' skills to an amazing level
The coolness between pilot and ground was amazing!
Wow! Just wow! The calmness between the pilots and the ATC was certainly amazing. The ATC was so helpful and the pilots were just amazingly calm in a high stress situation. Great video!
What an amazing job the flight crew did with all the system failures! The captain is right it is better to act than to be acted upon!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
With all the system failures I was expecting the crew to report smelling smoke at any minute. I admire the professionalism of all involved and so happy the way it turned out. I’d like to know what the cause of all the problems was.
I'm just surprised they didn't lose the weather radar!
Agree 100% about the professionalism, and I too would be interested to know the cause of the problems.
Funnily enough the passengers were unaware of this incident. I do salute Pilots and the people at ATC who carry the responsibility of so many lives and yet rarely fail. Props to the pilots on this one
I first started watching this channel for the crashes but it feels really good when they don't. The crew on this flight were amazing. Never once did the captain's voice waver.
These pilots are worth every penny they earn. Congratulations on a safe landing.
I have to disagree with your praise of this flight crew. Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of a dozen hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. In light of the system failures, weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, flying across the continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airline was flying on fumes. I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, but geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 12+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
What a beautiful episode. Just letting the real audio run as you did told the story, and it was just perfect. Thank you.
Impressed at how composed and the fact they remained calm throughout, well done Air India!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@contrarian604 I am sure these pilots were ultimately carrying out orders from their employers, same as the ones now who are being coerced into taking the unnecessary, experimental and untested v@c c1ne. In both cases they want to keep flying and therefore sit on their hands and roll up their sleeves.
Pilots did a amazing job, alert, sharp thinking and communicating with air controllers for best options. Great job.
This is what you expect from an Indian. The professionalism and calmness runs in our blood. Work is called worship in India.
I hope the passengers gave a round of applause for the crew. Without the best trained people in the cockpit and at the 2 ground controls the loss is too much to contemplate. Thank you, gentlemen, one and all.
As a former Air Force guy, I was a ground controlled approach controller, among other duties, including Approach Control and VFR Tower. A good GCA approach where the pilot gets "talked down" dring the last 10 miles of the landing approach, including altitude and heading information, literally talking the plane down to the runway, even in near zero zero conditions, these guys could have used a good GCA. It was good enough for President Eisenhower's pilot when I talked them down to a safe near zero-zero landing in Newfoundland years ago.
Thank you for your service sir! Not being an airman myself but knowing that GCA is a technique, I was surprised they didn't attempt this, but of course, not everyone knows how to do it.
Former Army here. Once upon a time many years ago, there were 2 precision approaches, the ILS(instrument landing system)and the PAR(precision approach radar). When the navigation gear craps out, the ground controllers were an absolute lifesaver in bad weather with the PAR approach. We’d routinely train on the PAR to keep us and the controllers sharp, and to give us the confidence to follow directions. Nothing quite like putting your faith in that voice on the radio, then having runway lights magically appear at or above 200 feet below. Great respect for controllers.
Now, if your comm’s radios were all out, other decisions had to be made.
With all the electronics plurality in modern aircraft, it is rare that the conditions described here occur. I salute ATC and good maintenance.
@@artharrison294 Thank you for your service and a compelling anecdote! :)
Wow, these pilots were incredible. Very calm, but knowing they needed to think and act fast. The audio was riveting.
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four pilots do not deserve any praise whatsoever.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
@@contrarian604 What you said makes the pilots sound stupid, which is not the case. I think they were aware of the intensity of the situation and thought it best to contact ground about it when they did. No need to raise a hue and cry at the first sign of trouble. I don't think any pilot would knowingly waste time if there is a serious failure on board. This isn't a school project.
@@AbhishekSanyalTGV WampusCat is a real 777 pilot, and posted this on GreenDotAviation, five months ago about this near-disaster. Be sure to read his final sentence:
Well done and interesting video. However, plenty more to the story we’re not being told.
As you might expect there are some high-time 777 guys out here to question these decisions and, today....well, that guy happens to be ME.
First, I bet my life that triple ILS radio failure is 100% impossible on the 777. We have three ILS receivers and, they’re completely independent systems, after all. My money is on the all-encompassing and ever popular “operator error” in this case.
Second, to critique your comments on the radio altimeter; It is absolutely NOT “more accurate” than a barometric altimeter, mainly because the two different types of altimeter measure two completely different (and only occasionally coincident) values.
Also, at no point did I hear the crew mention they were in the throes of a real live Fuel Emergency. This is important for the controllers to know, and Kgs of fuel on board means absolutely zero to someone who is not a 777 pilot. This measure is presented in hours and minutes of duration aloft.
The trusting passengers and crew survived this harrowing ordeal with licenses and lives intact despite the obvious lack of competence in the cockpit.
THIS PILOT DESERVES ETERNAL HONOR!
Salute to the Pilots for the Amazing way they control the Plane in such difficult conditions and land the plane Safely.👏👏
Not addressed, but that plane had at least 2 completely independent ILS systems. Hard to imagine both failing.
These pilots did not handle this well at all as they approached New York knowing their problems and the weather. They were calm, yes, but they weren't using their heads. They were lucky to get out of the mess. Likely, also, they were suffering from shaky maintenance back in India.
Shaky maintenance... Um... With such intelligent pilots & captains, the computer teams must also be of that high quality insurmountable, inestimable cool and calm characteristics... But funny thing... There were too many errors to be comfortable putting them in any category but suspicious, irresponsible or other unmentionable words... They are part of the "incredible teamwork"... Aren't they... Or are they prone to malicious influences no one wants to investigate. You know "the emperor has no clothes on"....
Hi I saw this on green dot aviation and the pilots are legends. Salute them for what they did, they deserve all the respect in the world!!
The ATC deserves all the praise, the aircrew was incompetent and should be disciplined. The four-pilot crew do not deserve the praise they are receiving here in the comments.
Two pilot crews, each took a full shift and both knew for upwards of 14+ hours (assuming they spoke with one another) that their various systems were down, and adversely affected the 777's ability to land in less than ideal weather conditions. All warning lights came up as soon as cruise was reached, and the four pilots had 15 hours to discuss the landing, and any expected difficulties. Weather conditions at the target destination could have been queried in the hours as they approached, while flying across the entire continental USA. What were they doing in the meantime? Ceiling conditions could have been identified for an entire host of possible landing sites well before the airplane was flying on fumes, and weather at alternate landing sites checked. CaptainD on FlightChannel commented that every 777 has three radio transponders, and that having two down shows poor maintenance and delayed replacement of failed equipment, and that he would never ever fly Air India. JohnCate on this channel commented that the plane could not be fixed in NYC and had to be flown back to India without any passengers for repair and service.
I agree that everyone was professional and kudos to landing the plane, that is entirely due to the efforts of the ATC. Geesus, it's not like the various failures happened on approach, and the weather conditions at the destination weren't known well in advance. Good grief, 14+ hours is a lot of time to waste, zero planning for the inevitable landing, and zero planning on route alternatives given that the fuel remaining could have been calculated in the final two hours to destination, alerting them to a potential fuel issue. Failure to plan, is planning to fail.
That was like your BEST video, ever. Everything about it... the story... the 'live' narrative... the beautiful pictures. Such a nice job and SUCH a happy ending.
Bravo, Captain and crew. I'm sure THEY probably think this was no big deal. But, for the average, non pilot, person...your calm and professionalism is to be commended and is very reassuring for the semi-nervous flyer. This is why I watch videos like this, especially before I'm supposed to fly...it gives me that extra dose of reassurance!! Well done Air India!
I've just started binging your videos and this is the 13th one, the 12th is about Sir Conin being able to bring his aircraft back after his cargo door shut down and I'm glad these 2 videos were selected as my 12th and 13th watch because honestly, 1-11 was all about death which instilled some fear of flying in me, but here my confidence is coming back because now we have excellent pilots, not those dillydallying and goofing around which resulted to loss of hundreds of lives