Trichy/Chennai: More than hundred passengers of a Dubai bound Air-India flight escaped death after the plane’s wheels hit a compound wall during take-off in Trichy, but luckily managed to land safely in Mumbai in spite of extensive damage to its body.
At around 1.30 am today, the flight with 136 on board hit the wall while taking off from the Trichy airport.
When ground air traffic control informed the pilots that their aircraft ‘might have come in contact’ with the wall, they had reportedly informed the authorities that ‘all systems are normal’ and continued their journey.
It was only when the flight was diverted to Mumbai as precautionary measure, that it was found that the plane had flown with extensive damage to its body.
The airline said in its statement, “It was reported by local airport officials at Trichy, that they have observed that the aircraft might have come in contact with the airport perimeter wall. The matter was conveyed to the pilot in command. The pilot in command reported that the aircraft systems were operating normally.”
The plane landed safely in Mumbai around 5.35 am, after a four-hour flight and was taxied to the parking stand. All 130 passengers and six crew members were safe. Upon external inspection, officials found that the plane’s fuselage or body had been ‘shredded’. Images that were circulated in the social media show extensive damage to the belly of the aircraft.
Sources said that the flight’s ILS (Instrumentation Landing System) antenna has been damaged and its broken parts were found on the ground in Trichy. A Trichy airport official confirmed the earlier news that the ground control had reported this to the pilot.
The source said, “The pilot confirmed that everything was fine. But the flight was diverted to Mumbai just as a precaution.”
It has been reported that another flight was arranged to take the passengers from Mumbai to Dubai.
Regarding the pilots’ status, the Air India statement said, “The pilot and the co-pilot have been taken off the roster. The pilot in command was Captain D Ganesh Babu, who has a flying experience on the B 737 aircraft of 3600 hours, including about 500 hours as commander. The First Officer was Captain Anurag who has an experience of about 3000 hours on the B 737.”
| MINISTER ORDERS HIGH-LEVEL PROBE |
| Following the incident, Minister of Civil Aviation issued a series of tweets explaining the incident and the actions taken by his Ministry. He said that he has spoken to the Aviation Secretary and other senior officials and has directed a high-level enquiry into the incident.
His tweet said, “In order to have continuous attention towards air safety, I have also ordered concerned officials to put in place a regular ‘safety compliance report’ of all airlines.” “Safety of the passengers is of paramount importance for us. We will take all thats required to put safety on top of aviation agenda. Growth cant be at the expense of safety,” he added. |