class is permanent .. form is temporary .. .. rusty pilots !!

Form is temporary; Class is permanent !  .. .. cycling, swimming would never be forgotten – even if one had not practised them for long years, they could continue at the given opportunity and time ! ..   Cliches often heard. 

Most property policies are peril driven – ie., provide coverage against loss or damage caused by specified perils – do you perceive insects ! as possible cause of damage, especially when the subject matter of insurance is high quality metal !  .. .. … do ponder this ………….

Tomorrow starts day-night Test at Adelaide Oval. Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin and Prithvi Shaw have been named in the final playing X1. Umesh Yadav will be the third seamer. Tickets for the initial three days have sold out, with capacity limited to about 21,000 spectators by coronavirus protocols.  Good news, is  Rohit “Hitman” Sharma has landed in Down Under for the Test series. The Indian batsman had left for Australia in the early hours of Tuesday after confirming fitness. Rohit shared a picture with his fans on Instagram from inside the flight with a thumbs up to inform that he is now in Australia. He will now be put in a 14-day quarantine as per COVID-19 protocol after which he will be put to another fitness test. The Indian vice-captain needs to clear it, in order to be in contention for selection for the Sydney Test starting January 7. 

I am no fan of Yoyo test or any other fitness test to ascertain the quality of a Cricketer – some are fitness freaks but gleaning the past, perhaps the likes of Dilip Vengsarkar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Ashok Malhothra, Erapalli Prasanna  may not pass the fitness test, may not have been greatly fit but were very capable performers.  So fitness should not be a criterion for judging the class of Rohit Sharma, who though looking bulkier, can effortless smash any bowler over the country – outside the ground for huge sixers.

Some had earlier also made some unsavour remarks on how the performance in T20 (IPL) and  Onedayers could translate in Test where a pacer could bowl with 4 slips and a Gully – ‘Class would reveal itself’.  In Cricket, when some struggle temporarily, the commentator would often say the cliché – ‘class is permanent, form is temporary’.

Aviation experts have raised concerns about 'rusty' pilots and planes being reactivated after storage during the coronavirus pandemic. Travel restrictions caused a huge decrease in flying this year in an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19 across borders.  Pilots returning to work and insect nests have been raised as potential problems for airlines as they restart business. There has been a spike in reported maintenance problems as planes are brought out of storage on a scale not seen in the industry before, reports MailOnline. 

Aviation insurers and regulators have raised concerns about how airlines return to full functionality. Head of Asia aviation at insurance broker Aon Gary Moran told the BBC: 'We've got people returning to work who are quite rusty, which is a big issue.' Asia managing editor of aviation magazine FlightGlobal Greg Waldron said: 'Flying an aircraft can be quite technical. 'If you haven't been doing it for a while, it's certainly not second nature like riding a bike.'  But Mr Waldron said airlines are aware of pilots being more cautious on their return and many have booked extra time for them in flight simulators. The number of 'unstabilised' or poorly handled approaches has risen sharply this year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).  Such mishaps can result in hard landings, runway overshoots or even crashes.

 

Worried by IATA's data, insurers are questioning airlines about whether they are doing extra pilot training to focus on landings, said Mr Moran. 'They want to know about the circumstances of the training,' he said. Pilots returning to work and insect nests have been raised as potential problems for airlines as they restart business. According to aircraft maker Airbus SE, the largest category of fatal accidents can be traced back to the approach to an airport, while the largest number of non-fatal accidents happen during landing. In May, a Pakistan International Airlines jet crashed after an unstabilised approach, killing 97 people, while 18 died in an Air India Express crash on landing in August, also after an unstabilised approach. But training is not the only concern.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has reported an 'alarming trend' in the number of reports of unreliable airspeed and altitude readings during the first flight after a plane leaves storage. In some cases, take-offs had to be abandoned or the aircraft had to return to base. In most cases, the problem was traced back to undetected insect nests inside the aircraft's pitot tubes, pressure-sensitive sensors that feed key data to an avionics computer. In June, a Wizz Air Holdings PLC jet halted take-off after the captain found the airspeed was reading zero. Examination of the plane found insect larvae in one of the pitot tubes, with the aircraft having been parked for 12 weeks before the flight, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch said last month. No passengers were on board. Insects blocking a pitot tube contributed to the 1996 crash of a chartered Birgenair plane in the Dominican Republic that killed all 189 people on board.

Kate Seaton, a Singapore-based aerospace partner at law firm HFW, said flight crews need to be aware of potential defects that might not have been identified properly as planes return to service after an unprecedented grounding. 'We are in new territory - the industry must take steps to mitigate the risks but need to be prepared for the unexpected,' she said. EASA said last month that issues found after prolonged parking included an engine shutdown in flight after technical problems, fuel system contamination, reduced parking brake pressure and emergency batteries losing their charge.

Covid has created more problems than could be fathomed at present 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
16.12.2020