Indigo flight makes emergency landing at Mumbai airport
Upon descent, the captain received a precautionary warning for engine no. 1 and asked for a priority landing in Mumbai. INDIGO SPOKESPERSON
MUMBAI:AN Indigo flight from Chandigarh with 144 passengers onboard made an emergency landing at the Mumbai airport on Friday evening, after the pilot suspected a problem in one of the engines.
Although the airline said that flight 6E-463 [an Airbus A320neo aircraft] made a priority landing – a lower form of emergency in which the pilot contacts the Air Traffic Control (ATC) for early landing as a precautionary step — the Mumbai airport said it was an emergency landing.
An Indigo spokesperson said, “Up on descent of flight 6E-463 from Chandigarh to Mumbai, the captain received a precautionary warning for engine no. 1 and following necessary SOPS (Standard Operating Procedures), he asked for a priority landing in Mumbai.
There was no in-flight shut down and no emergency was declared. The aircraft proceeded to the planned bay and passengers disembarked normally. In any event, the aircraft is currently being checked by the maintenance team.”
Airport operator Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) said a full emergency was declared for Indigo flight 463 at 4.28 pm. The airline said, the “flight landed safely at 16.44 hours on RWY 27 and was fully parked. Following which, the full emergency was withdrawn at 16.47 hours.”
A Delhi-based airline official claimed, the aircraft with registration VT-IJC that had an engine-related emergency on Friday was delivered to Indigo as recently as May.
The aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), recently suspended three Indigo pilots and two of its engineers over their alleged failure to report incidents of engine vibrations in Airbus A320s, fitted with Pratt & Whitney’s Neo engines.
Three incidents, dating back to March, came to light after the DGCA carried out an audit of the airline between April 15 and April 18.
In August, the regulator had called a meeting of executives from Indigo and Goair, following more reports of engine vibrations.
The DGCA had then stated that even the failure of one of the engines may not necessarily be life-threatening, because the other engine in the aircraft can operate, but they have to be instantly brought to their notice.