Aug 06, 2008 06:14 PM
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My thanks in the first place to God and then to Air-Decaan – for keeping me alive to write this piece!!
I have never been afraid of death, because I die everyday! The other reason of course is that I am not required to cry upon my death. But terrifying than the actual death is the thought of death ie being very near to death..and still surviving to tell the tale. But thanks to habit forming, we can get used to that too, like I have. I have travelled 8 times on Air-Deccan & nearly 4 times I felt I had to say my final prayers. Of these 4 on 2 occasions I did say my prayers!! Thanks to Air-deccan for making me think of God. ;-)
For those interested in numbers & history Air-deccan was founded my Capt R. Gopinath. Though it had humble beginnings, eventually it was the first of the low-cost no frills airline. Now they operate to some 54 domestic destination (many sleepy small towns too) with their 250+ flights a day. Finally this all culminated in Mr. Mallya buying stakes in Airdeccan. Now the two operate almost as one, what with counters, ticketing, route sharing, staff sharing et all happening.
My Experience: All of my flights with AD have been only in the southern sector & in their ATR crafts. I am of the opinion that there will always be fliers in India if the price if affordable. Once in the air all airlines are the same – we get to see clouds from all of their windows ;-) I personally don’t consider the interiors, seat cushion, colors, leg space, how-wide-the-hostess-smiled, their dress etc as parameters of comparison. They all look same to me.
Yes, even in other flights I have been faced with ‘turbulence’ but what I experienced on AD in those 2 flights is worth recounting, not just for the shrill it gave, but also for the theories I was able to come up with ;-). In other flights I had seen turbulence, shaking etc. But in 4 of AD flights, I got more than shaking; it was as if the nuts, bolts were giving away. But the recent 2 which made me say my ‘last prayers’ is something I can’t forget.
The Event: Here are the events that led me to postulate the below 2 theories! ;-)
I recently travelled to Vishakapatnam from Bangalore. The only direct flight makes a stop at tirupati in between. Check in, secutiry check, et all went smooth as usual. So was the takeoff too. Then comes the water supply & then the crew turn salesmen. They bring costly groundnuts, eatable & then they bring many other things as part of bid or buy. All was smooth until we reached over a hilly place over tirupati. Suddenly from nowhere we are engulfed in thick smoke(cloud?) & the craft begins to loose height, we can hear the whole plane body reverberating, shaking… I am reminded of all those National geographic channel programs on Air-crash investigations .. ( I begin to imaging, I survive the fall & the channel guys come to interview me!! ) . To add fuel to fear is all those scenes from Hollywood movies involving planes, crash, hijack etc ( wonder spreading fear is part time job of Hollywood? )..and I also said my prayers. .. prayers are heard, soon the plane becomes steady, everyone breathes easy. The cockpit announces we had a ‘turbulence’.. I am sure this was more than turbulence. On return the same things repeated, I said the prayers, but this time I had time to formulate 2 theories which you are not permitted to belive in ;-)
Theory 1 – Pothole theory: Imagine a Bangalore-hyderabad flight. Once the plane takes off & gathers height, it travels in a straight line to HYD. Now there are multiple invisible air tracks connecting BLR & HYD, at different heights. ( these are invisible just like the longitude & latitudes ). Depending on the cost the airlines are allotted which track to take. Which means that low cost airlines will get the cheapest of the tracks, which will have potholes in them, so the bumpy ride! The air tracks mostly resemble their counterparts on earth – the roads!
Actual reason is that low cost airlines often resort to cheap methods to cut cost, one of which is hiring cheaply available pilots from foreign countries, often aged & retired. No one knows whether they were flying planes or pesticide choppers there. Like our IT aspirants, they fake their experience & get jobs in AD etc. Their inexperience also results in bumpy rides.
Theory 2 – Bermuda Rectangle theory: I couldn’t notice the timing of turbulences on both occasions. It was over a hilly terrain near tirupati. So I am proposing that there is a Bermuda triangle like situation there. We could really feel the pull downwards. So if your craft doesn’t maintain certain height, it could well be sucked down. The place was a mountainous region with no habitation around. I am also of the opinion that the protruding peaks of these mountains are also responsible for creating potholes in the air tracks! ;-)
One negative point: Recently they have started charging a ‘rescheduling fee’ of Rs. 750 if you got for date changes in travel. To this they also add any difference in fair for the requested dates. I think this is not required if for the dates you are looking to change, the tickets are available, often with no changes in price.
My opinion of AD: I didn’t find anything different here in terms of facilities. You can take this if you believe in God. If you don’t, they will make you belive in God ;-) jokes apart AD is as good an operator as anyone else. You can buy tickets from their website, too. Don’t worry about potholes & Bermuda rectangles, if you have to fly & an Air Deccan is available, simply fly ;-)
