DGCA may ask AAIB to investigate Indigo Mumbai flight engine failure

NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator DGCA, which is probing the incident of an Indigo flight aborting take off from Mumbai Airport due to an engine "failure" last week, may handover the inquiry to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), sources said. AAIB, the apex probe body under the Civil Aviation Ministry, has a mandate to investigate accidents/serious incidents involving Indian aircraft.

"We have started our probe into the incident. However, if the preliminary findings suggest some serious issue, we may ask the AAI to take over the investigation," DGCA sources said. The Commander of the flight 6E-248, which had 165 passengers and six crew members onboard, had to reject the take off at the last minute from Mumbai's Chhtrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai for New Delhi on Saturday night after one of its engine failed with a loud noise and sparks.

"After opening take off power, the captain observed a technical snag. Hence rejected take-off and came back to bay due to precautionary reasons," Indigo had said in the statement adding a loud noise was heard by crew and passengers, some passengers seemed to have observed a flash of light.

Significantly, this was the third time in last one week that an Indigo plane suffered a technical glitch either midair or on the ground. On January 17 Indigo flight 6E-5263 operating on Delhi -Bagdogra route was diverted to Varanasi and made an emergency landing there after one of its engine's failed midway.

A day later, another Indigo aircraft which had flown from Delhi for Dibrugarh made an emergency landing at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport after being diverted to Kolkata for a technical snag.