Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Pilot spots giant wave off TN

Pilot spots giant wave off TN
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NewsByte on 25 April, 2008 04:36:16
 
By Sridhar Kumaraswami
New Delhi, April 25: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) tipped off the Tamil
Nadu government after an Air India Express pilot flying over the Bay of Bengal
noticed an "unusually big wave" in the sea at 11.30 am on Thursday (April 24).
The pilot, Capt. J. Banda, flying an aircraft from Singapore to Trichy, noticed
the wave when the aircraft (Flight IX-681) was 50 nautical miles from the Tamil
Nadu coast. The pilot later informed the air traffic control (ATC) authorities
in Chennai about what he saw. Air India Express is the low-cost carrier of
state-owned airline Air India and operates to nearby overseas destinations such
as West Asia, Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka.
According to the pilot, the wave was running in a direction from north to south
and parallel to the Tamil Nadu coastline. The pilot made the observation when
the aircraft was at an altitude of 16,000 feet.
The Tamil Nadu government was alerted after its chief secretary was informed of
the observation by the AAI from Chennai through a written communication. Union
civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla was also informed of the development and
the Tamil Nadu government is believed to be keeping a close watch on the
situation in view of the devastating tsunami that had struck the state over
three years ago. Incidentally, the district collector of Nagapattinam has also
been informed of the pilot’s observation. Nagapattinam was one of the worst
affected districts in the killer tsunami which hit Tamil Nadu in December 2004.
"Even when the aircraft is at an altitude of thousands of feet, it is possible
for the pilot to make such an observation clearly as the ocean is usually very
placid. Such an observation can also prove extremely useful in tipping off the
authorities about any possible disturbances in the ocean, especially in the wake
of the killer tsunami that struck Tamil Nadu four years ago," said a civil
aviation ministry source.
The authorities in Tamil Nadu have been on the lookout for marine disturbances
ever since an earthquake in the seabed near Indonesia sparked off the killer
tsunami and tidal waves, resulting in thousands of deaths in Tamil Nadu in
December 2004. The tsunami had caused massive destruction in the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, besides Tamil Nadu, as well as in Sri Lanka, Thailand and
Indonesia.