History repeats itself at katyn

Last week polish presidential flight an aging Tu-154 crashed near smolensk airport.The aircraft was trying to land after three failed attempts.As a professional air traffic management executive I am tempted to comment on this unfortunate event.Lets start with the aircraft.These Russian made Tu-154 are withdrawn from operation all over the world.There have been 54 accidents involving Tu-154 in last four decades.There were dense fog over the air field.The air traffic control advised the pilot to divert to some other airport like Moscow.But the pilot disobeyed that instruction and after three failed attempts in the fourth attempt it met with the accident.Nowadays in modern airports there is a system called Instrument landing system(ILS).This system provides vertical and horizontal guidance to an approaching aircraft.Landing phase is the most crucial of all phases of a flight.Most of the accident takes place either at the time of landing or take off.In heavy fog also with the help of ILS aircraft can land even in zero visibility.But this system was not available in smolensk airport.As ILS was not available the aircraft had to see the terrain on its approach for landing.Due to heavy fog on that day the pilot could not see the terrain and it reportedly hit treetops and crashed into pieces.Only after through investigation the cause of accident will be clear.But this could be a reasonable guess.Now the question is why the pilot wanted to land so desperately when visibility was so poor.Some speculations are there that the pilot acted as per instruction given by polish top bosses including the president.The president Kaczynski desperately wanted to attend the commemoration of Katyn killings.Thousands of poles were slaughtered by soviet secret police in katyn forest back in 1940.The president was going to attend a ceremony commemorating that event.It is an irony that the plane crashed just a short drive from katyn forest.Katyn takes more polish toll.Destiny!!!

I am swaping my books.are you?

All of us love books.Recently we had a two week long books carnival in kolkata named "book fair".While roaming around book shops I was wondering about what would be the future of this fair after say ten years.Whether the crowd will be so patient and tolerant then also to overlook dusts, claustrophobic stalls ,near stampede situation for the sake of books.Given the alternative that ebook and ebook reader will provide to the reader its least likely that people will rush to book fair in the same number they do today.Electronic books or ebooks are also called digital books are e-texts which forms the digital media equivalent of conventional printed books.E-books are read on dedicated hardware devices.computers and mobile phones can also be used to read e-books.E-books can be in different formats html,pdf,doc.Dedicated e-book readers use e-ink technology.This e-ink can imitate the look of a printed work.Many of you must have felt irritated while going through a long text on a computer screen.But due to this e-ink technology in an e-book reader our eyes will not be strained.At present many e-book readers are available.Among then amazon kindle and sony e-book reader are most popular.Last but not the least I am planning to buy an amazon kindle sooner than later!!

Copenhagen:A resolution to be made to make our planet abetter place to live

"You cant solve a problem with the same mind which created it".This we should keep in mind when we go to copenhagen to decide future course of action to fight climate change.India was not the part of today's climate change.But as a responsible country we should we a part of the solution.

Ramoji film city .....an unforgettable experience

Recently I went to Ramoji film city in Hyderabad.We started early in the morning.We reached there around ten.From the entrance gate they provided buses.In the bus a guide described in most cinematic way all that came along the road.It seemed like a dreamland.Whatever we require in a film or to lead a life everything is present there.There are big gardens, palaces,Schools,hills,fountains,rail stations,parks... you say it and they have it.I wondered how much was the investment made at a time to see it come true.Not only money but a cinematic vision turned a hilly barren land into a Tourist's paradise.Hats off to Ramoji Rao!Throughout the day we tried explored the place inch by inch.

When we finished the combing operation we realised still there are places to see.
In between dance programmes were arranged to showcase the spirit of Ramoji film City.A film making ceremony was also arranged.Two children were selected from the audience to play as character.They played there first amateur first filmi roles in front of the audience.How background noises are made that was also shown.At last that short "film" with background music was shown.
This journey to the Utopian filmidunia will remain in our mind for years to come.

Hyderabad...comming of age of a city

Now I am in the city of Nizams ....Hyderabad.Through the ages the city has gone through
several changes.In the 16th century quli qutub shah who was ruler of Golcunda founded the city
in the name of his wife hyder mahal.Then during the period of Aurangzeb the city was concurred by the mughals.After the weakening of mughals the local ruler nizam become powerful.Later on in british period also nizam,s rule continued.After the independence of india nizam wanted it to be either independent dominion or to be with pakistan.but local uprising and pressure of being landlocked by indian state on all sides eventually made hyderabad a part of India.India accused nizam of giving pak ambassador of London a huge amount of money. The case is still subjudice in England.In last 10 years hyderabad gradually rechristened as cyberabad.With all frontline it companies comming for bussiness and with the surge of young it professionals from all parts of the country transformed the the city into a truly cosmopolitan one.

Still 2nd!

Recently Air France flight AFR447 met with most unfortunate accident.Over the Atlantic it
faced severe turbulence and thunderstorm.This occurrence compelled us to look back to all those unfortunate air crashes over the years.What I feel strange that a servey carried suggests that
air travel is still the 2nd safest mode of transport! Guess what is the safest mode of transport...........its travel by ESCALATOR.

Colonial hangover on civil aviation in india

We all know that each and every aircraft has a unique registration marking on it.That marking consists of five letters or numerals.Seeing the registration marking we come to know in which country that aircraft is registered.Aircrafts registration making in england starts with "G",in USA it starts with "N", and in India it starts with "VT".You know why?Because this nomenclature was decided before independence.It was decided by apex body in world civil aviation ICAO.At that time India was a british colony.So that "VT " meant viceroy's territory.
Its amazing that after 60 years of independence Indian state has not taken any initiative to change it.