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Ready for Landing

An Air India Flight en route to Mumbai from Kolkata, India, had trouble mid-flight: the pilots noticed that despite having adequate fuel onboard as they departed, it was being consumed so quickly they clearly wouldn’t make it to Kolkata. They also had trouble keeping the airspeed up on their “brand new Airbus A320” — about 300 knots vs the usual 500 — and cruised at 24,000 ft instead of the usual 45,000. When AI676’s fuel level became critical, the pilots decided to make an unscheduled stop for fuel in Nagpur. As they approached for landing, they reached to put down the landing gear — and discovered that they had forgotten to retract it in the first place, which accounted for their troubles. The pilots have been “de-rostered” — suspended — by Air India. (RC/London Telegraph) ...Always use the checklist, chuckleheads.