Barbados/New Delhi: It was work as usual for the crew of the Delhi to Newark and back Air India flight as they flew out of India at 2 am on June 30.
When they reached Newark, they were informed that the flight back had been cancelled. To general consternation, the crew were told to wait for further orders.
‘We were in the plane when our commander casually sauntered in to say the flight was now rescheduled and would be flying out to Barbados,’ Faye, one of the crew members, said. Air india has never flown to Barbados so the surprise was on everyone’s face.
“We have to pick up the Indian cricket team from Barbados where they are stranded due to a hurricane,” the captain Hemant Ghodke casually said sometime later. Disbelief was collective but the excitement was sky high among the 14 crew members.
The special flight, rechristened AIC24WC, flew from Newark for Barbados at 21.55 local time to take the five-hour flight with six pilots which eventually meant a 40-hour journey for them across the Atlantic and back. For long-haul flights, four pilots are mandatory as rules suggest not more than 11-hour flying shifts.
For this Champions flight, the two extra pilots were engaged to fly from the US to Barbados on the special mission. After the flight landed in the US, it took 24 hours to get the necessary paperwork done and to get ATC clearance for a route that was not on the itinerary.
“We waited 16 hours at the Newark airport to finally take the five-hour flight to Barbados,” Faye said, adding in the same breath “but every long hour was worth it.”
The crew has literally taken up a 40-hour shift and will take another two hours after an Eight-hour layover at Delhi where the team will disembark for a meeting with the Prime Minister. The total flying time for the crew was 38 hours from Delhi to New York to Barbados to Delhi and back to Mumbai.
Meanwhile, both the crews — the Air India flight one and the ground staff at the Barbados airport were surprised when the plane landed. “Barbados has never seen such a big plane land at the airport. We went into the aircraft to click pictures as it was a novelty for all of us,” an airport ground staffer said.
As for the Indian crew, it was a “really tiny” airport with such a small runway jutting out of the ocean. While on the flight, the players were indulgent enough to grant the crew photo ops and autographs despite the gruelling schedule and a three-day wait on a hurricane-hit island where they lifted their second T20 World Cup trophy after 17 years.
