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Date: 12/21/06
Flight: Indian Airlines IC 109
Seats: 22 ABC
SDT: 9:30a.m.
ADT: 9:50a.m.
SAT: 11:05a.m.
AAT: 11:20a.m.
Aircraft: Airbus 320-200
Reg: VT-ESB
Dep. Weather: Temperature in the upper 70’s, hazy. Light westerly winds.
Arr. Weather: Temperature in the low 80’s, hazy. Light easterly winds. Mostly cloudy.
Off to experience IC…
Well, after two days in Mumbai, it was time to head off to the airport once again, back for a Bangalore trip. This was my first time flying Indian Airlines. So I was in two minds, on one hand, I was looking forward to flying it, especially since I would also be flying in an Airbus 320, also for the first time. On the other hand, I had read plenty of reviews about IC, about half of which were bad. I had also heard the improvements about IC and that the inflight service had improved as well. So, I kept an open mind and we headed out to the airport. The ride took about 45 minutes, not bad by any stretch of the imagination for Mumbai. That too in moderate traffic. Soon we were at Terminal 1A, which is usually for IC, Alliance Air, and Kingfisher. However, due to construction in Terminal 1B, all Jet Airways arriving pax were bused to 1A. 1A has separate dep/arr roadways, but the departure roadway is small, and thus quite crowded. However, this is the only Indian domestic terminal I know of which has such roadways. Once there, we paid the cab driver and headed off into the terminal. After security check number one (tickets and such), we checked in for the flight. There were plenty of IC check-in counters around, ‘course it’s the dominant airline in that terminal. I checked the departure board. Besides our flight, there were others headed to DEL, CCU, MAA, Lucknow, Guwahati, Patna, Pune and other destinations. Alliance Air flights as well. This terminal is also used by Kingfisher and Go Air. At the counter, I asked for three in a row, window, aisle and middle. Got the same, behind the trailing edge of the wing. After check-in, it was time to go to sec. check number two (carry-on check). When the carry-ons came through the other side of the x-ray machine, the staff put tags marked with the “IA” logo around each carry-on. I couldn’t help but notice that the tag-dispensing machine was also belching out white smoke along with the tags, which helped me in concluding that a: it had been working overtime during the morning rush hour and b: no maintainence had been done on it for, eh, a while. After the bags went on their way, came security check #3, this time, the wands. And after that, we were through, and free to go to the waiting area downstairs (no jetway for our flight). 1A only has 5 jetways, and then some stands. There was still an hour and a half to go (yes, it only took us about 15-20 minutes for the “stuff”), so I decided to head to the windows and peer outside. Quite a busy ramp, with an endless flow of IC ground service vehicles, 9W buses (Mercs btw), and airline personnel. Not to mention the planes taking off and landing on RWY 27. Saw quite a few IC 320’s, some Go Air 320’s (Go Air’s c/s is a “Go Air” painted on a white fuselage and on the tail, in either blue or pink), 9W ATR’s, 737’s, S2 planes, an AI 744, and you get the idea. There wasn’t much else to do, but the activity outside kept me occupied. 9:00a.m. rolled around, and there was no sign of any boarding, no announcement or anything. Finally, at around 9:20a.m. (10 min before the scheduled departure time), boarding was called by an elderly but spunky IC agent. Apparently, the PA system couldn’t be used, so she had to yell it out loud. The aircraft for our flight was sitting out on the ramp all this time, a double-bogeyed 322.
So it was just a short walk to the stairs and up into the cabin. We were greeted by FA’s (or should I say airhostesses?) in sarees. I went right to the assigned seat, good view. This was definitely a full flight, no doubt about it. The FA’s came by with a round of pre-departure drinks (sweetened lime juice or orange juice). I passed, and looked outside, where IC planes at the jetways were beginning to head out. I noticed that there were plenty of other IC planes which had the regular main gear (no double-bogeys). Then it was time for some photography:
[An Air Sahara 734 in the new c/s exiting RWY 27 after landing. Good thing I got it before it's all absorbed by Jet Airways. Also note the IC 322. Taken aboard IC 109 to BLR]
[A look at Terminal 1A from behind the wing]
The 320’s cabin is definitely spacious, and has an airy feel. However, this plane was showing its age, as the tray table lock was on the verge of giving out, and the seats and walls had the “aged” look. The head FA welcomed us aboard, followed by a brief spiel from the pilot. Flight time was pegged at about an hr and 20 min. A short while later, I heard what I thought was a dog barking, but quickly realised it was only the hydraulics being activated.
And of course the usual high-pitched noise that you hear. Soon, it was time for pushback, and after engine start-up and flap deployment, the engines were spooled up for taxi to RWY 27. However, since part of the parallel twy was under construction (work is being done on the airfield to prepare for the 388 ), we had to pass by the cargo ramp and the international terminal. The opportunity allowed me to view a Blue Dart 732, and then some planes at the international terminal, including an IC 320, and some AI heavies. At 27, we held short for an inbound 9W 73G. Finally, we were on the active, and kept rolling for some time, after which the throttles were pushed forward for t/o power. The Airbus had no problems in gaining speed quickly. Rotation was done soon after crossing RWY 14-32. Wow, what a lift off! The plane just thrust itself off the ground, that was definitely the quickest lift off I’ve experienced with a full load. After my head recovered (and blood rushed back in), I looked outside. We were already over a thousand feet above the concrete jungle. After climbing to the required altitude, the plane banked left for a nearly 180 degree turn. Here’s a shot of BOM (sorry, by this time, the smog was winning, but you can barely make it out):
[On board IC 109 to BLR. If you look at the center of the photo towards the bottom, you can barely make out the runways of BOM]
Engines were soon brought back to cruise power. About 15 minutes into the flight, meals were brought around, and I was hungry. The meal consisted of a mildly spicy paneer vegetable (cottage cheese in a mildly spiced gravy), Chole (chickpeas with sliced tomato in a gravy), rice, curd (yogurt), butter, roll, and water. Everything was pretty good except the yogurt, which was a bit too sour. After the meal service, I decided to look outside for a bit, but it was too hazy, or there was nothing below, so I looked through the inflight magazine. Soon I noticed we were making a right turn to head almost due south. Initial approach began and soon, we were fast approaching BLR. The cloud deck was pretty thick in places, but the ride through it wasn’t that bad. I could barely make out the northwestern parts of the city through the haze. After continuing southbound some more, a sharp left turn signalled the start of the ILS to RWY 09. After going over some residential areas, we were headed over one of the parks in the city. Then I heard a sudden deep rush of air flowing around the deployed gear, followed by initial flap deployment (which was kind of unusual, I hadn’t experienced gear before flaps). By this time, some of the spoilers had been deployed at a pretty good angle. I decided to get shot during the deployment:
[On final approach to BLR]
Just after I took this shot, one of the crew requested that I stop taking photos since it was illegal. Ok, no photos, I willingly complied. I continued looking out though, and noticed we were over the golf course to the west of the airport (incidentally, this is where the Airbus crash occurred back in ’90), and then the last few hundred feet. An unmarked 722 was holding short, behind it a company 322. The flare procedure was kind of goofed-up, a late flare and the aircraft skimmed the asphalt, went back up for a moment, then came back down with a thud on both mains, followed by the noticeable swaying of the aircraft from side to side. (If you’ve seen the AA 762 landing at MAN from FL350 I posted about a while back, it was similar to that one). And then full reverse thrust. But the pilots did a good job of using the rudder and brakes, nicely done. After exiting the active, I saw the 722 barreling down the runway. A bit about BLR, and a correction. In one of my previous reviews, I mentioned BLR has four jetways. Now I don’t know if just saw things or not, but it has two jetways, not four. The airport is land-locked, with virtually no room for expansion. Only one runway, 09-27, and of course several aircraft stands. At night, this airport gets a lot of widebodies for its size, and the ramp gets pretty full needless to say. Anyway, going back to the flight, we held on the TWY for a while for a jetway or a stand to open. 10 minutes later, a jetway opened and we were on our way. On the stands and the other jetway: company 322’s, Go Air 320’s, Kingfisher jets, and several Air Deccan ATR’s and 320’s (the company’s main base). Once the jetway was docked, we headed inside, and then down to the baggage claim. After some confusion as to which belt, we headed to the correct one and got our bags, and went out and got a taxi.
Overall, not bad at all. With the new planes, IC should have a better image. Food was good, some improvements could still be done here and there, but hey, who’s complaining when you can get a hot meal on a short flight? On time performance could use a boost, judging from the experience and other reports. And the FA’s could use a smile on their face.
But the airline is definitely on the up and up. Btw, did I mention the 320 rocks?!! I was glad I could ride in one of IC’s old machines before they’re retired. 
Foxtrot
Flight: Indian Airlines IC 109
Seats: 22 ABC
SDT: 9:30a.m.
ADT: 9:50a.m.
SAT: 11:05a.m.
AAT: 11:20a.m.
Aircraft: Airbus 320-200
Reg: VT-ESB
Dep. Weather: Temperature in the upper 70’s, hazy. Light westerly winds.
Arr. Weather: Temperature in the low 80’s, hazy. Light easterly winds. Mostly cloudy.
Off to experience IC…
Well, after two days in Mumbai, it was time to head off to the airport once again, back for a Bangalore trip. This was my first time flying Indian Airlines. So I was in two minds, on one hand, I was looking forward to flying it, especially since I would also be flying in an Airbus 320, also for the first time. On the other hand, I had read plenty of reviews about IC, about half of which were bad. I had also heard the improvements about IC and that the inflight service had improved as well. So, I kept an open mind and we headed out to the airport. The ride took about 45 minutes, not bad by any stretch of the imagination for Mumbai. That too in moderate traffic. Soon we were at Terminal 1A, which is usually for IC, Alliance Air, and Kingfisher. However, due to construction in Terminal 1B, all Jet Airways arriving pax were bused to 1A. 1A has separate dep/arr roadways, but the departure roadway is small, and thus quite crowded. However, this is the only Indian domestic terminal I know of which has such roadways. Once there, we paid the cab driver and headed off into the terminal. After security check number one (tickets and such), we checked in for the flight. There were plenty of IC check-in counters around, ‘course it’s the dominant airline in that terminal. I checked the departure board. Besides our flight, there were others headed to DEL, CCU, MAA, Lucknow, Guwahati, Patna, Pune and other destinations. Alliance Air flights as well. This terminal is also used by Kingfisher and Go Air. At the counter, I asked for three in a row, window, aisle and middle. Got the same, behind the trailing edge of the wing. After check-in, it was time to go to sec. check number two (carry-on check). When the carry-ons came through the other side of the x-ray machine, the staff put tags marked with the “IA” logo around each carry-on. I couldn’t help but notice that the tag-dispensing machine was also belching out white smoke along with the tags, which helped me in concluding that a: it had been working overtime during the morning rush hour and b: no maintainence had been done on it for, eh, a while. After the bags went on their way, came security check #3, this time, the wands. And after that, we were through, and free to go to the waiting area downstairs (no jetway for our flight). 1A only has 5 jetways, and then some stands. There was still an hour and a half to go (yes, it only took us about 15-20 minutes for the “stuff”), so I decided to head to the windows and peer outside. Quite a busy ramp, with an endless flow of IC ground service vehicles, 9W buses (Mercs btw), and airline personnel. Not to mention the planes taking off and landing on RWY 27. Saw quite a few IC 320’s, some Go Air 320’s (Go Air’s c/s is a “Go Air” painted on a white fuselage and on the tail, in either blue or pink), 9W ATR’s, 737’s, S2 planes, an AI 744, and you get the idea. There wasn’t much else to do, but the activity outside kept me occupied. 9:00a.m. rolled around, and there was no sign of any boarding, no announcement or anything. Finally, at around 9:20a.m. (10 min before the scheduled departure time), boarding was called by an elderly but spunky IC agent. Apparently, the PA system couldn’t be used, so she had to yell it out loud. The aircraft for our flight was sitting out on the ramp all this time, a double-bogeyed 322.
So it was just a short walk to the stairs and up into the cabin. We were greeted by FA’s (or should I say airhostesses?) in sarees. I went right to the assigned seat, good view. This was definitely a full flight, no doubt about it. The FA’s came by with a round of pre-departure drinks (sweetened lime juice or orange juice). I passed, and looked outside, where IC planes at the jetways were beginning to head out. I noticed that there were plenty of other IC planes which had the regular main gear (no double-bogeys). Then it was time for some photography:[An Air Sahara 734 in the new c/s exiting RWY 27 after landing. Good thing I got it before it's all absorbed by Jet Airways. Also note the IC 322. Taken aboard IC 109 to BLR]
[A look at Terminal 1A from behind the wing]
The 320’s cabin is definitely spacious, and has an airy feel. However, this plane was showing its age, as the tray table lock was on the verge of giving out, and the seats and walls had the “aged” look. The head FA welcomed us aboard, followed by a brief spiel from the pilot. Flight time was pegged at about an hr and 20 min. A short while later, I heard what I thought was a dog barking, but quickly realised it was only the hydraulics being activated.
And of course the usual high-pitched noise that you hear. Soon, it was time for pushback, and after engine start-up and flap deployment, the engines were spooled up for taxi to RWY 27. However, since part of the parallel twy was under construction (work is being done on the airfield to prepare for the 388 ), we had to pass by the cargo ramp and the international terminal. The opportunity allowed me to view a Blue Dart 732, and then some planes at the international terminal, including an IC 320, and some AI heavies. At 27, we held short for an inbound 9W 73G. Finally, we were on the active, and kept rolling for some time, after which the throttles were pushed forward for t/o power. The Airbus had no problems in gaining speed quickly. Rotation was done soon after crossing RWY 14-32. Wow, what a lift off! The plane just thrust itself off the ground, that was definitely the quickest lift off I’ve experienced with a full load. After my head recovered (and blood rushed back in), I looked outside. We were already over a thousand feet above the concrete jungle. After climbing to the required altitude, the plane banked left for a nearly 180 degree turn. Here’s a shot of BOM (sorry, by this time, the smog was winning, but you can barely make it out):[On board IC 109 to BLR. If you look at the center of the photo towards the bottom, you can barely make out the runways of BOM]
Engines were soon brought back to cruise power. About 15 minutes into the flight, meals were brought around, and I was hungry. The meal consisted of a mildly spicy paneer vegetable (cottage cheese in a mildly spiced gravy), Chole (chickpeas with sliced tomato in a gravy), rice, curd (yogurt), butter, roll, and water. Everything was pretty good except the yogurt, which was a bit too sour. After the meal service, I decided to look outside for a bit, but it was too hazy, or there was nothing below, so I looked through the inflight magazine. Soon I noticed we were making a right turn to head almost due south. Initial approach began and soon, we were fast approaching BLR. The cloud deck was pretty thick in places, but the ride through it wasn’t that bad. I could barely make out the northwestern parts of the city through the haze. After continuing southbound some more, a sharp left turn signalled the start of the ILS to RWY 09. After going over some residential areas, we were headed over one of the parks in the city. Then I heard a sudden deep rush of air flowing around the deployed gear, followed by initial flap deployment (which was kind of unusual, I hadn’t experienced gear before flaps). By this time, some of the spoilers had been deployed at a pretty good angle. I decided to get shot during the deployment:
[On final approach to BLR]
Just after I took this shot, one of the crew requested that I stop taking photos since it was illegal. Ok, no photos, I willingly complied. I continued looking out though, and noticed we were over the golf course to the west of the airport (incidentally, this is where the Airbus crash occurred back in ’90), and then the last few hundred feet. An unmarked 722 was holding short, behind it a company 322. The flare procedure was kind of goofed-up, a late flare and the aircraft skimmed the asphalt, went back up for a moment, then came back down with a thud on both mains, followed by the noticeable swaying of the aircraft from side to side.
(If you’ve seen the AA 762 landing at MAN from FL350 I posted about a while back, it was similar to that one). And then full reverse thrust. But the pilots did a good job of using the rudder and brakes, nicely done. After exiting the active, I saw the 722 barreling down the runway. A bit about BLR, and a correction. In one of my previous reviews, I mentioned BLR has four jetways. Now I don’t know if just saw things or not, but it has two jetways, not four. The airport is land-locked, with virtually no room for expansion. Only one runway, 09-27, and of course several aircraft stands. At night, this airport gets a lot of widebodies for its size, and the ramp gets pretty full needless to say. Anyway, going back to the flight, we held on the TWY for a while for a jetway or a stand to open. 10 minutes later, a jetway opened and we were on our way. On the stands and the other jetway: company 322’s, Go Air 320’s, Kingfisher jets, and several Air Deccan ATR’s and 320’s (the company’s main base). Once the jetway was docked, we headed inside, and then down to the baggage claim. After some confusion as to which belt, we headed to the correct one and got our bags, and went out and got a taxi.Overall, not bad at all. With the new planes, IC should have a better image. Food was good, some improvements could still be done here and there, but hey, who’s complaining when you can get a hot meal on a short flight? On time performance could use a boost, judging from the experience and other reports. And the FA’s could use a smile on their face.
But the airline is definitely on the up and up. Btw, did I mention the 320 rocks?!! I was glad I could ride in one of IC’s old machines before they’re retired. Foxtrot
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