An Oman Air flight which made an emergency landing at the Kozhikode airport on Tuesday following a technical glitch in its weather radar raised some apprehensions, especially since it flew at a low altitude of around 10,000 ft close to three hours.
According to sources, the flight was vectored on its final approach track by the primary radar in Kochi. Though this is a normal process during times of emergencies, here the pilot chose to fly at a low altitude for two hours 47 minutes while the flying time from Kozhikode to Muscat is 2 hours 57 minutes.
Since fuel consumption is higher for low-altitude flying, the aircraft could reach its landing weight in a shorter span of time. The pilot chose to exhaust maximum fuel before landing.
Though north Kerala has been witnessing inclement weather during the past few days, visibility was good during the time of take-off and landing. Either the pilot might have been wary of landing during inclement weather or was not ready to take any risk considering the instance of an Air India Express flight overshooting the runway in 2020. Some other technical issue could also have forced the pilot to exhaust maximum fuel, said Jacob K. Philip, an aviation expert.
Sources at the Kozhikode airport said the decision of the pilot was right and there had been considerable risk in flying to the destination with a damaged weather radar. The presence of cumulonimbus clouds along the flight path often posed a challenge while navigating the flight. The presence of strong westerly wind in the area made it difficult for the aircraft to approach the available runway 28. Considering the delicate undercarriage and nose-wheel assembly, exhausting the maximum fuel was the ideal solution. Further, the primary radar could not guide the aircraft below 4,000 ft, said sources.
