Two Air India pilots were grounded after the plane they were flying was forced to land short of its planned destination due to almost running out of fuel.
That was because they forgot to retract the landing gear after take-off from Kolkata.
The Airbus A320 diverted to Nagpur, hundreds of miles short of the intended destination of Mumbai.
With the landing gear still down during the flight, the jet could only fly at a reduced altitude and speed, causing the excessive fuel burn.
The pilots only realised the wheels were still down when diverting to Nagpur due to low fuel, an airline source told Times of India.
"When preparing to land, they decided to lower the landing gear. At this point they realised that the wheels had been out all the while from Kolkata."
"The pilots were de-rostered after the incident was reported," Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar later confirmed.
A senior AI pilot told the Times of India he was amazed how this lapse wasn’t spotted much earlier.
"This lapse shows extremely poor situational awareness and complete breakdown of crew resource management between both women pilots on that flight. The post-take off check list includes checking if the landing gear has been retracted," the pilot said.
