The Hindu Business Line : First Indian plane to fly over North Pole

New Delhi, July 27 For the 51 guests on board Air India flight 160 that touched down at the Indira Gandhi Airport here at 2 pm today, it was a special occasion. The Boeing 777-200 long range (LR) aircraft named Andhra Pradesh, is th e first of the 50 wide body aircraft AI has purchased.

The aircraft has many other firsts to its name. Andhra Pradesh became the first Indian aircraft to fly non-stop between India and the United States and also the first Indian aircraft to fly over the North Pole.

“This flight is really being operated North by North Pole, as we will be flying about 65 km from the pole. From the flight deck we get a good view of how global warming is affecting the planet as you can see patches of water over the pole which should generally not be visible,” explained Captain Amitabh Singh, the Flight Commander. He added that the North Pole route offered great opportunity for the flights that AI operates to New York and for the proposed Bangalore-San Francisco non-stop service.

The aircraft was handed over to the airline’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V. Thulasidas, at a simple function at the Boeing headquarters in Seattle.

The aircraft took off from Seattle with 1.28 lakh kilolitre of fuel although only 1.001 lakh kl were consumed when it reached Delhi after flying non-stop for 14 hours and 18 minutes over Canada, NorthPole, Russia, Kazakhistan, Krygistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Delhi, the aircraft was welcomed with two fire engines on either side spraying it with water as it taxied on the runway. Finally, when the aircraft docked at the parking bay, the CMD and airline officials performed a puja before breaking a coconut before the aircraft.