Clouds and More

I like shooting the clouds from the window of a plane. Living in the cloud is not the prerogative of data alone. We can temporarily enjoy The Cloud too. On a recent flight, these are from the Eastern parts of India-

 and these masks are displays at Kolkata airport..above and below.

 This is the view from the escalator (below) while transiting.

Poha in Flight

Slightly misleading, because it was not the poha that was flying, I was! But the flight was made interesting with the poha and the scenery-clouds of different shapes, and the blue sky. Anyway, it also proves poha has arrived, because it is being served at 35,000 feet to high-fliers!

The Curious Case of the Malaysian Plane

Thankfully, it's a rare occurrence. And having been in some really stormy flights that seemed as if they would disintegrate mid-air, I understand that modern aircraft are fairly resilient. But that makes the current disappearance of a flight all the more intriguing.

My questions to no one in particular, are-

1. Don't we have a simple device that can help us track any flight after it falls off, even if it disintegrates? Apart from the black box, I mean. If not, is it possible to invent one, considering so many millions are now flying?

2. Can't our satellite technology which detects even small objects detect these planes somehow?

3. I am pretty sure military technology is pretty advanced. Can't some of it be applied in civilian distress management?

4. Shouldn't we be looking at rescue as early as possible after a plane goes off the radar? In this case, it was many hours before anyone did anything, it would seem.

5. Can someone (a hijacker, or a renegade pilot) simply switch off a plane's signals so it can't be traced?

6. Why not let passengers use some mobile phones if only to alert or send a message? Or enable the airline to send a coded SOS call if it loses height at an unacceptable rate indicating a disaster?

Of course, a stolen or hijacked plane is still a possibility, and if that is so, intelligence may help identify potential countries or locations where it may have flown.

A malfunction or a mechanical/structural failure is also a likelihood, either due to natural forces or a bomb.

Hope they find the truth soon.

Of Flights and Other Diversions

This one if you have not guessed it already, is about diversionary tactics as applied to flights. I was sitting in an Indigo flight with some colleagues, headed from Nagpur to Delhi. We got a wee bit apprehensive when the pilot announced at take-off that there was dense fog in Delhi. After hovering around about 50 minutes above the dense fog, good sense prevailed. You don't burn fuel if you park yourself somewhere. Fortunately, we did not indulge in the car version of fuel-saving, switching the ignition off. We just landed in Jaipur, with a grand view of the unfogged landscape there.

Fortunately, some colleagues had bought Orange barfi at Nagpur, so we had something to chew on while we awaited communication from our masters at the ATC. The mood was one of a picnic, barring a few people who were either missing connecting flights or were being cursed by bosses. Eventually, the air was cleared over Delhi, but not before the lovely air hostesses had been harassed by hungry passengers into selling their entire stock of edibles (loosely used here) and then parted with limited amounts of complimentary snacks (why limited, no idea). Anyway, they handled the situation quite well.

The saga taught us that just like trains, if you are headed into foggy places, plan for a wasted day in and around the fog times. Delhi retains the title of Fog Capital of India.

A line from an old movie came to mind...Bambai se gai Dilli, Dilli se gayi Patna , phir bhi na mila sajna..