The hellhole that IC-814 must be

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 25: The ordeal and trauma of passengers and crew of Flight IC-814 is anything but over, even 24 hours after being airb...

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 25: The ordeal and trauma of passengers and crew of Flight IC-814 is anything but over, even 24 hours after being airborne from Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu on Friday evening. First of all, the three-member cockpit crew of the Airbus 300 have been in the air even before the flight left Kathmandu. Capt DS Sharan, his co-pilot Capt Rajinder and flight engineer Jaggia were on a circuitous flight which first originated in Hyderabad.

The airline crew including the cabin crew first took off from Hyderabad to Delhi, then to Kathmandu, and if the flight had gone according to plan, their duty would have been over after touching the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Instead, Capt Sharan and his crew is diverted from Indian airspace near Lucknow after taking off from Kathmandu to Lahore where they are refused permission to land, returns to Indian airspace once again and hovers over Amritsar for almost 20 minutes before force landing in Amritsar for refuelling.

The aircraft is airborne again after only 10 minutes of refuelling, lands in Lahore to complete refuelling, takes off for Kabul but is refused landing permission, then goes further and is allowed to land at the UAE8217;s Minhat Airforce Base, which is 12 kms from Dubai. Hours later, it takes off and finally lands at Khandahar, Afghanistan. 8220;This is nothing if not physically and mentally crushing for the cockpit and cabin crew,8221; says a veteran Air India commander in Delhi. 8220;The maximum flight limit for a commercial pilot laid down by international guidelines is seven hours of flying and two landings, in a crisis, three landings, if you want an alert, efficient commander. Can you imagine the stress and trauma under which he is flying the aircraft? I can only pray for him,8221; says the airline pilot.

Worse, diminishing supplies of food, water and lack of heating, have only added to the misery and suffering of passengers. Says a cabin crew member of an international carrier, 8220;Since this flight was ending at Delhi, there would have been only enough food trays and refreshments that would have lasted the short flight. Also, water resources would dry up after a couple of hours and this would be a big problem for the sanitation to work. You can only imagine the situation 24 hours later.8221;

According to the AI commander, ventilation and lighting should be working as energy is sourced from the aircraft8217;s built in auxillary power unit and does not depend on fuel supplies.

8220;The aircraft8217;s lighting and ventilation system works from two sources one, if the engines are running and two, if the auxillary system is on. But it depends on the hijackers if they want a brightly lit cabin and the doors to be open for circulation of air.

Also, with sub-zero temperatures in Khandahar with a high of 19 C and a low of -2 C, heating is the need of the hour, which aircrafts do not have. And don8217;t forget, both the crew and passengers have been in the sitting position for more than 24 hours now8230;8221;

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Regular medical supplies for serious ailments like diabetes, cardiac problems etc are normally stocked in aircrafts, however, at this time, the crew will be hard pushed to take care of terrified passengers. 8220;Most of our energy is gone after a single flight,8221; says the stewardess, 8220;This incident could only squeeze them to the bone.8221;