Airliners-India.com

saurabhm_101 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 529 Location: Mumbai

Well I was in Delhi for some paperwork issues with the DGCA. I was booked on S2 109 back home to VABB (BOM)

I left from where i was staying by 6 pm and reached well before time at 6:30pm for ETD at 2020 hours. Got done with x-ray in a breeze and proceeded for check-in. I had already tele-checked in to book my seat as I am very touchy about my seat when im flying! she already printed out my boarding card by the time I was transferring the bags from the cart to the weighting scale. I requested the J class seats as i was flying Air Sahara's B737-700s. She told me they were reserved at first but then she gave me seat 2A so i was already going to have a comfortable flight!

Got done with security in a giffy! and was waiting for boarding by 7pm! but there was this HUGE thunderstorm directly above the airport which lashed out and shut down airport ops for about 15-20 minutes with Jet Airways announcing alot of delays beforehand. Within about 20 minutes it cleared up and the airport ops were back on line. After waiting for another 20 minutes boarding for our light was announced. We proceeded to the aircraft in the bus. The bird was VT-SUI the Boeing 737-7K9 with the new JetLite tittles painted on! Outside the aircraft 2 buses unloaded passengers so basically everyone ganged up on the agent collecting boarding passes so it was total chaos!

I sat in my comfortable seat and soon the doors were closed and the engines were started, Eng 2 first and then Eng 1. The seats were not in the best condition but I dont need to complain! haha! We departed 10 minutes before schedule and waited for sometime until we were given clearance for take off. Landing lights and strobes were switched on and we back taxied on Rwy 28 for take off.

Take-off was smooth with hardly any low clouds in the sky (yes i loveeee turbulence!) so it was a smooth climb out. The snack boxes were served which contained a bottle of water, a bun with some chutney and aloo patty in it and a muffin. It tasted like LCC but atleast something is better than nothing. I gave my Flight Log to be signed by the Capt and F/O which took rather long so I figured they were attaching tonnes of stuff to it! but all these hopes were broken when a flight attendant asked me to come upfront. He made sure the drapes behind were closed and i was given access to the deck in flight at cruise! I could not believe it!

I was talking to the Capt about all my plans as I already have a CPL so this was bonus for me! Jumpseating at night cannot even compare to jumpseating during the day! its a different experience all together. We had already begun our descent to BOM. We were told to hold at a GPS intersection named PPAS I think at FL190. After every pattern we were instructed to descent by 1000 feet. After about 4 holding patterns we proceeded direct to BBB (VABB's VOR). Since we were in the clouds all throughout I could not see outside! We were directed down to right base for runway 27 and with a final descent to intercept altitude and turn to intercept heading we were cleared for the ILS rwy 27 at CSIA.

We lined up with the localizer and waited for the glide slope needle to come alive. As soon as the F/O called out 'Glideslope Alive' the Capt. instructed him 'Gear Down' and the usual call out after the gear was down 'Three green, Gear down and locked!' we began our descent to rwy 27. On the weather radar there was a huge red patch ahead of us on the localizer path to the runway so we had to flight through it. The rain hitting the windshield and windows was louder than the engines at 60% N1! At about 1200 feet we had the runway in sight again and proceeded on. At about 1000 feet the autopilot was disengaged and the Capt had the controls. 10 feet above the TDZE (touch down zone elevation) the Capt pulled the engines back to idle. A sudden gust pushed us a little to the right of the centerline so he had to land on one wheel and then the other. Still a smooooth landing! Since the last exit on rwy 27 is out of service for repairs we had to apply alot of braking to exit on the rapid exit! We were asked to taxi to Bay 38 via taxiway D A2. As we came to a stop, fuel to the engines was cut off. I sat for some more time talking to both the pilots thanking them for the opportunity! I got a few shots of the deck and one of me in the F/Os seat as well!

I got out to get my bag near my seat and as I was walking down the
steps the last bus was leaving when the capt yelled out the ground staff to stop it! the he went running to stop it! I thanked him and boarded. This was my first time in the Arrival section of Terminal 1B and I must say I was impressed! I got my bags and headed towards the exit and it was awesome outside as well! very very passenger friendly!

So to sum it up my flight was 'half in J class and the other half in the deck!'

Here is the video of us landing in BOM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnmURwk6buM

Pictures:

The J seats:

Flight Deck:

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Nimish · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:21 pm Post subject:

Lucky you - getting called in to jumpseat!

Sounds like the J seats on the S2 737s are a great option for a free upgrade Smile

.. Any pictures of these seats?
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iflytb20 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:04 pm Post subject: Re: S2 109 DEL-BOM

saurabhm_101 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 529 Location: Mumbai

Ah! PPOS correct..! I couldnt take pics cauz it was bumpy and i did not want to take pics with flashes or anything as it would be distracting to the pilots which is the last thing i want!
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avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Excellent TR! love the flight deck picture.

It is interesting to read a TR from a pilot's perspective.

HAWK21M · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:18 pm Post subject:

Good T/R.
The on Ground F/D pic looks neat....The usual newspaper is around too Smile

regds
MEL
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sreenath_y · Member Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 528

Nice TR as usual! The video is really nice.

yash777 · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:04 am Post subject:

Gotta say YOu are one lucky guy saurabh!
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saurabhm_101 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 529 Location: Mumbai

haha thanks yash!

Yeah mel! news papers and novels too! lol! i think one reason for calling me in was boredom! haha!
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Flying High.... You and Me...!

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB