Emergency!'AIR INDIA 101':Multiple system failures.

Air India Boeing 777-300,had been flying for more than 15 hours on the non-stop service from New Delhi, among the longest flights in the world.

With dangerously low fuel on board and extremely cloudy conditions over large parts of the New York state area, they would need to keep descending in the approximate direction of the runway without knowing its precise location. With the cloud base at just 400 feet, the pilots would need to fly even lower to be able to spot the runway.

Without the availability of his Instrument Landing Systems, the crew decided to attempt a “non-precision” approach by using the few functional navigation aids on board. This meant using the jet’s Vertical and Lateral Navigation systems to simulate an Instrument Landing Approach into Newark. This was an out-of-the-box approach, something Air India does not train its pilots in. Boeing, the manufacturer of the jet, does not mention use of this technique either in its operational guidelines for the 777 aircraft.