DGCA sets up committee to investigate Rahul’s plane incident
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) set up a two-member committee on Friday to investigate a ‘technical snag’ in a special aircraft carrying Congress president Rahul Gandhi to Karnataka.
The aviation regulator said a team had reached Karnataka’s Hubballi, where the incident took place, and a detailed report was likely in two-three weeks. “Ligare Aviation falcon 2000 aircraft VT-AVH was involved in an incident while operating flight Delhi to Hubli. Operator has reported the incident to DGCA. As per operator report, it was snag of autopilot mode and pilot shifted to manual mode and aircraft landed safely. Autopilot failure incidents are not uncommon. For any VIP flight, DGCA investigates thoroughly,” the regulator said.
When contacted, Jitender Chandel of Ligare aviation said, “We would not like to comment at the moment”.
The Congress on Thursday sought an investigation by the Karnataka police after the aircraft carrying Gandhi and four others from Delhi to Hubballi developed a glitch. According to a complaint filed by Congress functionary and one of the passengers Kaushik Vidyarthee, the special flight that took off from Delhi at around 9.20am on Thursday developed “unexplained technical failures” at around 10.45am.
Hinting at the possibility of a conspiracy, the complaint said the plane “shuddered violently”, tilting to one side, while a noise was audible.
The complaint also said the autopilot did not function and the plane landed in Hubballi only in the third attempt.