On 03 May 2018, at 1055 hours helicopter VT-PHY carried out a precautionary landing at Ravulapalem (16 45.549 N, 082 50.030 E), On a radial of 178 at a distance of 21 Nautical Miles from Rajahmundry (RJM 178/21 NM) on its return to Rajahmundry Airfield (VORY) from a ONGC offshore crew Change sortie. As per the onboard weather radar all around Rajahmundry Airfield, Yanam Reliance base and Surasini Yanam Helibase was covered with bad weather. The crew were negotiating bad weather en-route took timely action to land immediately at suitable nearest place to avoid bad weather conditions. The pilots had filed Visual Flight Rules flight plan for a Crew Change sortie to an Offshore floater platform named Aban Abraham, located on Rajahmundry VOR (RJM) On. A radial of 147 – at a distance of 56 NM at on continued the flight under Visual Flight Rules. Before and after executing the precautionary landing Rajahmundry ATC, ONGC Helibase at Kakinada and Cairn Energy Helibase at Surasini Yanam were communicated on Aero VHF and Land Line respectively.

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Aviation Safety Management Society Of India (ASMSI) commends Captain Rustom Palia, commanding an Air India Boeing 777-300,  AI-101 on Sept 11 2018,  for his out of the box thinking & excellent problem solving skills under adverse conditions. He saved 370 occupants of flight  AI-101 by landing the aircraft manually under adverse weather conditions and multiple system failures. Well Done !

“We’re really, you know, stuck and there’s no fuel,” a terse message from Captain Rustom Palia, commanding an Air India Boeing 777-300 to Air Traffic Control in New York.

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