《中英對照讀新聞》 Pilot refuses to land at new airport 機師拒絕在新機場降落

◎羅彥傑

An airline pilot took his passengers on a 1,200-mile detour after refusing to land at a new airport in India because he had never heard of it.

一名飛機機師帶著乘客繞了1,200英里，因為他拒絕在印度一座自己從來沒聽過的新機場降落。

With 233 passengers on board, the KLM pilot first diverted the flight to Hyderabad from Amsterdam northwards to New Delhi.

在機上有233名乘客的情況下，這名KLM荷蘭航空機師先將這架從阿姆斯特丹飛往海德拉巴的班機，向北轉往新德里。

But after he was denied permission to land in New Delhi, he flew on to Mumbai and finally landed two hours later.

但遭新德里拒絕降落後，他又繼續飛往孟買，兩小時後終於降落。

The pilot reportedly claimed he knew nothing about Hyderabad’s new Rajiv Gandhi International airport. Airport officials insisted all airlines had been notified of it opening on March 14.

據說這名機師宣稱他對海德拉巴新機場「拉吉夫甘地國際機場」一無所悉。機場官員堅稱所有航空公司都在3月14日機場啟用時獲得通知。

But a report in the Times of India revealed a number of pilots had complained their flight computers did not recognise the new airport.

但印度時報報導透露，許多機師都抱怨其班機電腦無法辨識這座新機場。

The computers believed the aircraft were descending at an unknown place and issued verbal warnings, saying： "Terrain, terrain, pull up. Too low." Most Indian pilots, who know the land around the new airport is flat, switch off the warning and continue their descent.

電腦相信飛機是降落在一處不知名的地方，所以會發出警告，說：「地障，地障，拉升。太低。」大多數印度機師都知道新機場周圍是平地，因此會關掉警報，繼續降落。

新聞辭典

notify：動詞，通知。例句：I have notified them of my arrival.（我已通知他們我來了。）

pull up：片語，拉升（航空用語）、停下。例句：They pulled up in front of Room 18.（他們在18號房門口停下。）

switch off：片語，關閉。例句：The policeman switched off the electricity.（這名警察關閉了電源。）

來源：自由時報

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