Ajay Singh’s SpiceJet is on notice

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Editor's note: A weather radar, tucked in the nose of an aircraft, is one among hundreds of pieces of equipment on board. But for pilots cruising at 31,000 feet, it’s an important ally in identifying their biggest enemy: thunderstorm-bearing clouds.  If the radar screen flashes green inside the cockpit, then the clouds up ahead contain light rain. But if it glows red or magenta, that’s a warning of severe thunderstorms that can shake the aircraft like a dog thrashing a rag doll. Pilots avoid such weather like the plague. But what if the radar is malfunctioning, showing green on the screen instead of red or magenta? Or, what if it doesn’t show anything conclusive? Something akin to these scenarios happened on 1 May to the bewildered pilots of SpiceJet flight SG-945, flying from Mumbai to Durgapur, in West Bengal. While three other flights, including another from SpiceJet, on the same route altered course to safety, SG-945 flew straight into an adverse cloud formation, resulting in severe turbulence that left 12 passengers seriously injured.   The weather radar was seen as the culprit. “The …