Kolkata airport crosswind flights could not land 90 minutes passengers in air

Kolkata | On Friday, something happened at Kolkata airport that for almost an hour, the breath of the passengers remained stuck. Due to the crosswind, the planes that landed from 5 pm to 6:30 pm kept circling in the air. 11 The captain tried to land the planes on the runway but then had to decide to wait due to the wind, as there was a danger of the plane drifting off the runway.

what is crosswind

Strong winds that move perpendicular to the direction the aircraft is flying are called crosswinds. These winds can cause the aircraft to deviate from the runway at the time of landing, causing a major accident. That day 11 planes tried to land on the runway 16 times. In view of such weather, about two dozen aircraft kept hovering in the air. While 9 were diverted to another airport.

According to the Times of India report, the pilots said that the Meteorological Department had issued an alert of strong winds but no one knew that such a crosswind would be encountered. Winds coming from the left had the power to deviate the planes from the runway angle by 20 degrees. So the landing was very dangerous. For this reason, in view of the fuel, it was decided to stay in the air.

Note that crosswinds are not uncommon. It is generally seen from March to May, but its effect lasts only for 10 minutes to half an hour. This time the crosswind was caused by an area of ​​low pressure. Its effect was seen for 90 minutes. Its warning is also issued in advance. This time no one had anticipated that the crosswinds would cause the planes to hover for 90 minutes. According to a captain, on Friday, the wind was blowing at a speed of 93 kmph at an altitude of 1600 feet and 83 kmph at a height of 900 feet. In such a situation it was very difficult to land the plane.