November 2012 - Indian Airforce

Wg Cdr B Anandhan
It was a cold winter morning. The Detachment
should have gone by now but it hadn’t because of
a snag.
The snag was another ‘puzzling snag’. After some
brain storming, it was zeroed down to a component
malfunction.
The Supervisor (Warrant Rank) and the
Engineering Officer were on either side of the ladder,
nearly at its top, reaching the roof of the aircraft inside
the fuselage. Their hands were inside the panel to
remove the faulty component. It was an intricate job!
Nobody had removed this particular component in
the Fleet ever before. Concentration was intense, not
a word was spoken.
The team did not notice the Flt Cdr who had come
near the ladder and was watching them for a while.
The silence was broken by the shrill voice of the Flt
Cdr shattering the concentration of the team.
“Aur kitna time lagega”?
And something fell from inside the panel. The Flt
Cdr searched for that ‘something’ for some time. He
could not find it. He left the place. He realised what
he had done.
After securing the component the WO and the
EO climbed down the ladder and searched for that
‘something’. They could not find it. It had rolled away
after bouncing on the floor.
A Corporal was told to hold the commando torch
to light up the space inside the panel.
One side of the component was released from the
linkage and was held by hand; another 10 minutes
and the faulty component would be in their hands.
WO:
EO:
WO:
EO:
Sir, who asked him to come here?
Nobody. Vo apne aap aa gaye!
First let us remove the component.
Okay, but let us put some boys to
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Aerospace Safety N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 2
INDIAN AIR FORCE