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Friday, June 14, 2019

Rishab Pant flying ! ~ what is Contingency planning !!


Most people plan ~ some over do ! ~ there should always be a plan B – a viable alternative. … once I missed Tirupathi Express by a few minutes – took an auto, reached REnigunta where train would stop for 20 odd minutes – could conveniently catch the train to Chennai ! – the  Contingency   plan may not work all the time..In philosophy and logic, contingency is the status of propositions that are neither true under every possible valuation (i.e. tautologies) nor false under every possible valuation (i.e. contradictions). A contingent proposition is neither necessarily true nor necessarily false. .. .. .. difficult to fathom !!

Contingency (noun) would mean a future event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.A contingency plan is a plan devised for an outcome other than in the usual (expected) plan. It is often used for risk management for an exceptional risk that, though unlikely, would have catastrophic consequences. Contingency plans are often devised by Govt, business houses and other planners.  During times of crisis, contingency plans are often developed to explore and prepare for any eventuality. The World could come crashing down for any Company if the Computer server that has all information crashes ~ for this they would have a back up server.  I know of a company operating in Chennai having back-up servers in Bangalore and in Singapore – not sure whether there are cloud solutions for this magnitude too.

Rishabh Pant will fly in this week to join the Indian squad as a cover for Shikhar Dhawan, who suffered a hairline fracture after being hit on the left thumb against Australia on Sunday. Pant was one of the standbys announced by the selectors in April, while announcing the 15-man squad for the World Cup.The selectors have worked out that KL Rahul can perform Dhawan's role should he fail to recover, which is the rationale behind choosing Pant, a middle-order batsman, as cover. Rahul was originally picked as the third opener in the squad, but sneaked into the XI last minute as No. 4.

Dhawan is also currently India's only specialist left-hand batsman in the squad, and he disrupted Australia's bowling plans during his century earlier this week, negating legspinner Adam Zampa. This purported advantage against legspin in the middle overs is another significant reason the selectors have opted for the left-handed Pant.At a media briefing at Trent Bridge on Wednesday*, India' assistant coach Sanjay Bangar hinted that Dhawan would sit out of the next three to four matches. Bangar agreed that having a left-hand batsman in the top order was always an advantage and that is something India would need to just cope with until Dhawan is declared fit.He said that Dhawan is a "precious player" and hence the team management decided to not to rule him out straightaway.

Bangar said it was only appropriate to get Pant to be with the squad immediately. "The thing is around 10 or 12 days, we'll be taking a call on the status of Shikhar. Until that point, just to make sure that if and when the replacement is required - and I'm saying if and when - then it is always good to have the replacement player coming in and practising with the team, as a standby."Pant has played five ODIs since his debut against West Indies in October last year and averages 23.25, and he was part of India's squad during their home series against Australia this year. But Dinesh Karthik's experience and wicketkeeping had edged him ahead of Pant when the World Cup squad was named.

Now read this interesting article from TOI where the contingent plan went awry ! -  a Chennai-Ahmedabad GoAir flight (G8911) scheduled to depart at 6.55am on Thursday was delayed by more than four hours after one of the pilots did not turn up for duty.

Passengers had a tough time as they had to wait inside the plane, which was on a parking bay far away from the terminal, till the airline managed to summon a replacement for the crew. The flight finally left at10.30am.The passengers boarded plane on time using shuttle buses. But the plane did not leave well past the departure time.“Around 7.15am, they announced that there would be a delay. After sometime, the cabin crew said the flight would depart after one and a half hours. When we insisted, they said that first officer did not turn up for duty,” said K Suganthan, a passenger, who boarded the plane.

A few passengers wanted to get off the plane and return, but the crew discouraged them saying that they might not be able to leave the terminal till the plane took off and that they would arrange a replacement for the absent pilot when a flight from Mumbai landed.“I managed to return to the terminal because I told them there was no point in flying because I had a return flight the same evening. An official said that they tried to arrange another pilot but failed as they were not reachable,” Suganthan said.

Airlines usually keep one pilot on standby if a crew member scheduled for duty is not able to do the work. However, in this case, the airline could not arrange a pilot immediately.GoAir, in a statement, said, “GoAir flight G8 911 from Chennai to Ahmedabad was delayed as the first officer did not join for duty due to health exigencies. GoAir arranged for a pilot and the flight took off at 10.30am with 177 passengers on board.”

People chose to fly by air because it is lot convenient and more importantly, saves time in a big way !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
14th June 2019.

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