Pilots grounded after plane hits airport wall
Aircraft with 136 people on board flew for almost four hours with damaged body
Air India yesterday grounded two pilots after one of its jets carrying 136 people hit an airport perimeter wall on takeoff and then flew for almost four hours with a damaged body, officials said.
The Air India Express Boeing 737 suffered the damage as it left Trichy in southern India bound for Dubai.
Officials at the airport in Tamil Nadu state “observed that aircraft might have come in contact with the airport perimeter wall,” said an Air India statement.
“The matter was conveyed to the pilot in command. The pilot in command reported that the aircraft systems were operating normally. It was decided to divert the aircraft to Mumbai as a precautionary measure.”
The jet landed in Mumbai four hours later and pictures of the damaged aircraft went viral on social media soon after it landed safely. The 130 passengers were moved to a new flight to Dubai.
Air India said the two pilots were “derostered pending investigation” and the incident had been reported to India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation for an investigation. “The airline is fully cooperating with the investigation,” it added.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu yesterday said the government had recently ordered an independent “airline safety” review of Air India.
Prabhu said on Twitter that “safety of the passengers is of paramount importance for us.” He added that aviation “growth can’t be at the expense of safety”.
All 130 passengers and six crew members on board an Air India Express flight to Dubai had a narrow escape early yesterday when the aircraft’s wheels scraped the airport’s outer wall during takeoff in Trichy in Tamil Nadu.
“The aircraft hit the airport’s instrument landing systems [ILS] and then the compound wall,” Trichy Airport Director K. Gunasekaran told IANS.
Although parts of the Boeing 737-800’s undercarriage were damaged, the pilots, unaware of the incident, continued to fly until the airport staff alerted them. The plane was then diverted to Mumbai and landed there four hours later around 5.40am.
The flight IX-611, with 130 passengers and six crew, had taken off at around 1.20am.
“We informed the pilot about the mishap,” Gunasekaran said. “The pilot said nothing was wrong with the plane as the systems were functioning normally. But we found some parts of the plane like an antenna on the ground.”
Pilots derostered
An Air India statement said officers of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had reached Trichy and so had Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau officers.
Pending investigation, the airline has derostered both Captain D. Ganesh Babu, who has flying experience of 3,600 hours on the Boeing 737, including 500 hours as commander, and co-pilot and First Officer Captain Anurag, who has flying experience of around 3,000 hours.
Authorities began a probe while technicians in Mumbai examined the damaged aircraft. “Air India has constituted a Sub-Committee of the Board headed by an independent director for looking at all safety related issues within the organisation including subsidiaries,” an Air India statement said.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said he had recently ordered putting in place a third-party professional organisation to look into various safety aspects at Air India.
“In order to have continuous attention towards air safety, I have also ordered officials to put in place a regular ‘safety compliance report’ of all airlines. Safety of passengers is of paramount importance for us,” he said.
Gunasekaran said the Trichy airport runway was about 8,200 feet long.
On April 26, 1993, 55 people on board an Indian Airlines plane were killed in Aurangabad in Maharashtra when it crashed on take-off after apparently hitting a truck carrying cotton bales.