Former PM Manmohan Singh many times flew to various countries across the world to strengthen India's relations with them. It is now coming out that during one of his official visit to Russia, the Air India One plane he was travelling on 1 Nov,2007 ran into trouble during its landing in Moscow.
It is coming out that the plane didnot lower its landing gear as required during the landing and the Boeing 747 crew did so only after they were told to do so by the Moscow ATC informing them that the aircraft wheels were not down and warning lights in the cockpit.
A senior commander who trains and examines junior pilots speaking to scribes expressed shock saying "What is perplexing is that according to the FDR data of this flight, the aircraft descended to a rather low height before corrective action was taken. Simultaneously, the ATC warned the aircraft that its landing gear is not down and alarm bell sounded in cockpit,"
Another pilot came with a different view saying "On a VVIP flight it may be decided to bring the landing gear down at a little later stage. The reason being the moment wheels are brought out, drag increases and that leads to more noise disturbance on the aircraft. So it may have been possible the landing gear was brought out late to keep the flight quiet for the PM on board,"
